The Undying Illusionist

by Candy Crum

  Now, all that was left to do was to seal the fate of the entire city. It was necessary for Amelia to die, and Talia to be recognized as the hero. The further into the game she got, the more Talia saw the allure of power. She finally understood what Scarlett had been talking about.

  At some point, her motives had turned from simple revenge to creating a legacy. The city would be hers.

  As expected, Scarlett made her way into Talia's office. She had a large smile on her face as she sauntered across the room and sat on the front of Talia's desk, crossing her legs.

  "So, when should I have your crown made?" Scarlett asked, playfully running her finger across the smooth wood of the desk. "And how should I present it?"

  Talia sighed, pausing in the task of writing a letter. "Do you ever stop?"

  Scarlett shrugged. "I keep hoping you'll come around, but you're such a prude." She winked.

  "I assure you that I'm no prude. I just strongly doubt you could handle my interests. As for the metaphorical crown, it's almost time." She folded the letter and placed it in an envelope, sealing it with wax. "I'm sending this with you. The remnant won't eat you alive if they know what's good for them, and I know you understand that you have to ride there as fast as possible. If you get there quickly enough, in a day's time we could have ourselves a celebration. I even put in an order with a rearick for a barrel of mystics’ brew for the occasion."

  Scarlett took the letter, letting her fingers brush Talia's as she did. "Is this what I think it is? The grand finale?"

  Talia smiled. "It most certainly is. You deliver that and the remnant will come and take the city.”

  Scarlett nodded slowly, turning the envelope over in her fingers. “You do know the remnant can’t read… right?”

  There was a pause as both women stared at one another. Talia felt a little embarrassed at the mishap, but she didn’t plan to let Scarlett know that.

  “Exactly. Which is why you’re going to read it to them. I don’t trust you to tell them word for word what I need said. There… It’s all written down and nicely packaged for you so it can’t be fucked up.”

  Scarlett nodded again. “Mmmhmm. If you say so.”

  Rolling her eyes, Talia said, “Anyway—back to business. The Guard will fall for the most part, and I will do my best to help them. Amelia will be pulled in too many directions. It'll be my time to really shine, to solidify myself as the better leader, especially when I turn on the remnant and kill them myself."

  Scarlett inspected the envelope for a moment and leaned across the desk. "How many do you think you'll need? We have a large army, but they're idiots. Have you seen them? If one of them so much as passes gas, they fall over." She rolled her eyes as she further laid across Talia's desk, her face only a few inches from the Dean's. "It's rather pathetic."

  "You’ll see. It's all there in the letter. They have numbers, so I asked for no less than a couple hundred remnant. They should be excited—this is the war they’ve been waiting for. I need few enough that we can rebuff them, but enough that we lose half or more of our army. Amelia will absolutely need to die. Of course, I'm certain you can be of help there. Amelia won't stand down from the battle. She will fight. All you have to do is overwhelm her so she blanks out for a few moments. That should be enough time for some remnant to run her through."

  Scarlett nodded. "What about Arryn? We both know she's hiding out somewhere, and she's going to come back with a vengeance. Two days is more than enough time for her to rest. As long as she doesn't have any other heroics planned, she'll be charged and ready to go for the battle."

  Talia smiled, the very darkness of it seeming to chill the room as she leaned closer to Scarlett, pressing the tip of her nose against the mystic’s. "That's the best part. I've already discussed this with the other teachers. If Arryn comes—and she will—I want you to lure her away from the crowd. Once she is out of sight, we’ll take her out. I think chilling out in the Frozen North would do her some good."

  Scarlett swallowed hard, her eyes locked on Talia's. "The… The North?"

  "Mmmhmm," Talia murmured. "Yep. I want her to suffer. Killing her is too fast. I want it to be slow and painful. We take her down, bleed her out a little so she wears herself out healing, then take her north and drop her in the frozen wasteland. She'll have no clothing, no supplies. Using magic will only weaken her further. Even if she manages to warm herself enough stay alive, she'll start to die.

  “Not even nature magic would allow her to grow food there. Well, not at her level, anyway. She'll either freeze to death or starve. Either way, she'll be gone, and will have had a lot of time to wonder exactly what's happening here in her city. Her last moments on Irth will be filled with worry, desperation, and an extreme sense of failure."

  Talia pulled back quickly, tapping her desk once before standing and pointing at the letter in Scarlett's hand. "See to it that gets delivered tonight."

  Scarlett grumbled a bit as she reluctantly stood and walked out of the room. Just before crossing the threshold, she looked back and said, “You’re a real tease, you know that?”

  Talia only waved her away.

  ***

  Having been largely invisible to everyone else, Celine was the best choice to send toward the Capitol building. The only person who had seen her and knew her identity was Amelia. The rest of the city wouldn't care less and had long forgotten her relation to Elayne, Christopher, and Arryn.

  When she arrived at the Capitol building, she saw several men working to clear the area that had been blown apart. The death toll stood at ten now. Several bodies had been pulled free that night, but it had taken clearing to find more. It was a tragic loss, and one the city would not soon forget.

  As Celine made her way to Amelia's office, she was surprised to see how largely unaffected this side of the building had been. It was incredibly obvious to anyone with a brain that it had been a setup. Someone had deliberately avoided attacking Amelia directly.

  But because of Scarlett's involvement, the panic in the city was widespread and only getting worse. She had only needed to affect the first group. After that, the misinformation was securely sown, and each of those people spread it like wildfire.

  Celine didn't know a lot about mental magic, but she knew enough to understand that all Scarlett had to do was come into contact with someone for a suggestion to be planted in their mind that would solidify the allegations against Arryn.

  Amelia’s role was once again being called into question as a result of Scarlett’s machinations. It was obvious to everyone in Girard's house that Amelia's life was in danger, but she was desperate to restore her reputation with the people.

  Arryn's escape had made Amelia look suspicious. The city was quickly coming to believe that Amelia had released Arryn under the guise of an escape, and they thought she was no longer fit for her position.

  It was only a matter of time before Talia would be able to fully take power.

  Celine's job now was to convince Amelia to keep herself safe while they made a plan to rescue the city. A dead Amelia would do no one any good.

  "Celine! Please close the door," Amelia quickly exclaimed.

  The woman did as instructed before turning back to the Chancellor and crossing the room. "I'm sorry to bother you, Chancellor, but as I'm sure you're aware, this is rather pressing."

  Amelia's expression softened, her shoulders falling a little. "How is she? How's Arryn?"

  Celine nodded. "She's fine. She nearly died in that last fight, but she held it together until we got there. Cathillian and Samuel pulled her out of the building, and we got her home in time to heal her. All of us have been on the run since."

  Amelia gestured to Celine with an open hand. "Not all of you, it would seem. I'm glad that at least one of you can walk freely in the city."

  "That's why I'm here. With me being the only voice for us, I had to talk to you immediately. During the fight that Arryn was in, that student told her they had control of the remnant. I wish there
was a better way for me to tell you, but there's no time. You know there was a recent attack on Cella. The only logical path to take now is to attack Arcadia."

  Amelia sighed, dropping into her chair. "Logical indeed. Fuck. If I was that heinous bitch, that's what I’d do, too. The city is weaker now than it ever has been, even after Adrien first lost control. We are on our way back, but if the remnant attack, the city will fall. We haven’t had enough time to fully train the Guard, although because of Arryn, Cathillian, and Samuel’s training, they are better prepared now than we could've hoped before."

  Celine nodded again. "You have done all you can here. We know you want to stay and find a way to save them, but you can't. You can try to snap those people out of their daze, but you have no idea what damage you will do to them in the long term. Mental magic is very tricky, and compulsion is something we don't know a lot about."

  "Damn it!" Amelia exclaimed. "If Julianne were here, this wouldn’t be a question. But there's no time to get messages to her in the south. Not now. She's taught me a lot, so I know that if I tried to break Scarlett’s hold I might damage their minds. Even if I killed her, severing that bond could hurt them. I'd love to just get Arryn and overtake Talia and Scarlett. Do you know how easy it would be to just rush out there and kill them? Sure, it would be a fight. Hell, we might even die in the process, but we could do it."

  Celine's expression turned thoughtful, sympathetic. "But you can't."

  Amelia nodded. "Right. We can't. This is going to take strategy and a war. You guys have a plan?"

  "One of the guards who is still loyal to Arryn told us that Scarlett rode out last night. The funny thing is, the guards at the gate don't recall seeing her. The only reason he remembered was because he was on his way for shift change and not close enough to be affected."

  Amelia smiled. "She compelled them to forget. Or hell, maybe they never saw her in the first place. That means she's up to something. Do you think she's going to warn the remnant?"

  "Samuel thinks that's possible. If she rides fast, we have a few days. Maybe more, maybe less, but we need to prepare. The thing is, Talia can't know we're preparing. We should stay in hiding, and you should, too. You can't stay here and risk your life. You’re worth far more alive than dead and as you said, we need to make a plan. I think you should come with us, hide out with us."

  Silence filled the room as Amelia's eyes stayed focused on Celine's. After several moments’ thought, Amelia finally asked, "You said there are Guard who are still loyal to Arryn?"

  Celine nodded. "It seems that the men she and Cathillian have been training are still capable of thinking for themselves. They know Arryn would never have done what's being said about her."

  "Good. We're gonna need them. Them and anyone else they know for certain is still free of the mystic’s influence. Tell Arryn to meet me where Doyle died. I want her and anyone she trusts there with her. I'll look into their heads and make sure we can trust them. I might not be as strong as Scarlett in the mystical arts but I am strong enough to see the abnormalities if there is any compulsion present. Talia and Scarlett have no idea where we took Doyle down, so it's a place Arryn and I both know, and we should all be safe there for now."

  With those instructions, Celine said her goodbyes and excused herself. She had no idea what was about to happen, but she prayed Arryn knew what she was doing. She'd only just gotten her back, and she couldn't bear the thought of losing her again.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Arryn stared at the large tree that had somehow survived the fire that had engulfed the house surrounding it. She remembered the day she and Cathillian had worked together to force the large group of Doyle and Adrien's loyalists into the open.

  They'd essentially split the house with the tree, but the house had later been set on fire by a wayward fireball. Somehow, the tree still stood, and she imagined it had everything to do with the magic that had been used to create it.

  The sound of horses’ hooves filled the air, and Arryn turned to see Amelia and Marie riding toward them. It warmed her heart to have someone like Amelia on her side; she knew that together they could accomplish anything.

  "Hello, everyone." Amelia dismounted. Looking at the group of nearly twenty men dressed in Arcadian armor, she stated, "I'm glad you could make it. There are more of you than I actually expected."

  "Aye. We picked the best group. They seemed stronger than the rest. Not sure how those mental magicians work, but I imagine it's harder to do it to someone with a strong will," Samuel told her.

  Amelia nodded. "For someone like Scarlett, it shouldn't be a big deal. However, because she's using magic on so many different people at once, she'd need to use a lot more to affect those with stronger personalities and will. Having said that, I do intend to verify that all of you are exactly who you say you are. I don't trust many people right now."

  Much to Arryn’s surprise, no one objected to Amelia's plan. While she trusted the men she had brought with her to be honest, she didn't expect them to be excited about someone delving into their mind. But they'd allowed it.

  It took quite a while, but once Amelia was satisfied with the outcome, she pulled Arryn and Cathillian to the side. Celine and Samuel quickly followed.

  "They're all clean," Amelia told them, "but a few of them definitely had their minds wiped at least once. I saw memories of Talia pulling a body into the new Boulevard park. Another one saw Scarlett heading down the street toward your old house. It seems she's been keeping a closer eye on everyone than we knew. While they retain those memories, they have no recollection of them. When I asked them about the incidents they had no idea what I was talking about, and I could tell they were being honest."

  "What does that mean for them?" Arryn asked.

  "I truly have no idea. I'm worried that it will take someone a lot stronger than me to undo the compulsions. It's going to be this way with everyone in the city at this point. Well, at the very least, the ones Scarlett has planted thoughts in. We can't just walk up to them and beat the thoughts out of their heads. We can't force them to accept reality. If we do, we could break them. We have to make sure we have solid proof of what Talia's been doing.

  “When they see the proof and are confronted with truth, they’ll decide which makes more sense, and they'll come around. We can't simply tell them that Talia is the psychotic daughter of their past Chancellor and that Scarlett is an insane mystic. Not many people even understand how mystical magic works, let alone believing one of their own is a mystic."

  Cathillian stepped forward. "I think we can all agree that our biggest obstacle right now is the possibility of a remnant invasion. If they come, the city will be overrun. None of us have a clue what Talia and Scarlett have planned. We have to assume they want to destroy everything, or why else would they use the remnant?"

  Amelia shook her head. "Again, I have no idea. I don't understand why these kinds of people do anything that they do. The city is weak, so I suppose it is the perfect opportunity. What's the plan? Do we have one yet?"

  "We sure do, lass. We're gonna use the guards as plants. We send them back in and have them spread word throughout the Guard of the potential remnant attack. We have to make sure the city knows," Samuel explained.

  "That will cause widespread panic," Amelia mused. "Is that part of the plan?"

  Arryn nodded. "Obviously, anything we do will have completely unpredictable effects. All we have are what-ifs and possibilities. We think that if we put the Guard on high alert and citizens begin finding out about the impending attack, everyone will look to you for support. If they are looking to you for support, your life should be safe. Talia cannot make a move against you if you are in power, or she'll lose."

  "At that point," Cathillian added, "you should be able to move back to the city without worry. Give the Guard orders, tell them what they need to do. Make yourself a hero. Show the people that you are the one in control, and you are the one who's going to save our city. No one else. Do not let them tur
n to her for help."

  Amelia sighed. "So basically, we're playing her game. We're using widespread panic and manipulation tactics to put me in control of the city that I'm already in control of and make myself look good in front of the people?"

  Arryn shrugged. "Unfortunately, that's the world she's created for us. Did you think I enjoyed trying to be friends with her for a few weeks while hiding my utter disdain? No! But we have to do what's necessary."

  Amelia shook her head and smiled. "Oh, no, you misunderstand. I have no arguments, mostly because I have no better ideas. Everything you’ve said has made perfect sense, and your plan will help me save the city and its citizens and make sure that I don't lose control. I can't exactly dispute those objectives."

  Cathillian nodded. "If everything works as we expect, Scarlett should arrive back in the city tonight. If she rode to the Madlands, we’ll know it when she returns. At that point, we just need to keep ourselves out of sight until the shit goes down and the people need direction. We will position our men at the gate so we can enter without any problems."

  Amelia took a deep breath and smiled. "Great! We have a few hours before we need to get the guards back to see if Scarlett does enter the city in the expected timeframe. I think we should use this time wisely."

  Arryn smiled. "Battle training?"

  Amelia nodded. "Yep. Battle training."

  ***

  As expected, Scarlett rode back into the city that night just after sundown. Once again, the guards at the gate had no idea that she had passed through, which told Amelia’s group that her trip had certainly been a sensitive one. That was enough evidence for them.

  Amelia sent her guards in and set them on their path of planting doubt in the minds of the other Guard. When someone asked the inevitable question "How do you know the remnant are coming?" they were to answer that Amelia had gotten word from Cella that it could happen. They were on orders to alert the rest of the Guard of an impending attack.