Chapter Text
As far as jobs went in the Boiling Isles, Amity was pretty set with hers. Mostly. Even if she'd only acquired it about a month ago, it was already proving to be quite the relief from staying with her mother at Blight Manor... Especially so since her siblings had left home, Amity's mother had become extra overbearing and not at all someone you'd want to be stuck with for any length of time. If she'd been bad before, she was a nightmare now.
But this new post that Amity had accepted had a certain few... advantages. Officially, at least on paper anyway, it was an Emperor's Coven job, meaning she had both her mother's approval and an excuse to be 'busy with work'. In reality, she was by her own choice little more than an intern. But that just stacked her third and final advantage onto the list: no sigils. She could leave her options open to keep running with this coven or possibly follow in her dad's footsteps and become a member of the Abomination Coven. The illusion of choice was nice.
Other than all that, it was pretty dull, actually. Amity technically worked as an Inspector for the coven security division (Also allowing her to stay out of scout uniform due to the home security ties her mother's company had, fortunately), but she was yet to do much more than just paperwork. Once or twice she'd been sent as an officer on duty, but not for any major cases, and just to make matters worse, as of two weeks ago, she'd been assigned to shadow the Golden Guard.
For Titan's knows what reason, Emperor Belos had instructed his right-hand man to work part-time as an assistant to Amity's department, and their base head had thought it best to stick her with the supposedly most qualified. Why being the Golden Guard made Hunter, as she'd soon found out the guy's name was, a decent detective, she would never know, but there was little she could do about it.
So far, working with the Golden Guard hadn't actually been all that bad, though. Sure, he was an absolute brat and infuriated the life out of her with sassy remarks left, right, and centre, but somewhere behind that mask, he was somewhat a sweet guy. She did mean that. Once you'd seen the guy flopped down on his desk at three am, with a bad case of a bedhead, probably actually caused by wearing a mask and hood all day, it was hard to judge him too harshly. It had also been her first time seeing his actual face, though, so there was that.
Her colleague had been called out of their shared (Ugh.) office some matter of minutes ago to discuss some kind of assignment. Part of Amity was hopeful that this would finally be her chance for some fieldwork, but the other part knew this could just as easily be something for Hunter's regular Golden Guard duties. In that case, she was prepared to just hang around filing reports again all day. To be honest, that wasn't even as bad as she made it out to be; every now and again, she would come across an interesting story in some case notes and that would make a good read. Don't get her wrong, it was no 'Good Witch Azura', but it was entertaining enough.
Whilst there was no one in the room to check up on her, and maybe also because she'd finished her current set of assignments already and had nothing better to do, Amity summoned her scroll and began to open Penstagram. Immediately, she grimaced at noticing the slew of messages on her group chat with her siblings. With this amount of texting, there was either some kind of family gathering that they all had to attend, or Ed and Em were having some kind of meme prank war on the group chat again. She'd love to say both were equally bad, but at least one wouldn't result in Amity having to visit her mother...
And... She should have just said both would have been as bad as one another.
Because she was now reading that mom wanted them all over for dinner next month and was feeling sorely disappointed. The twins' near-spam turned out to just be them discussing the monster of a list of things that the three of them would have to do to meet current expectations for the meal. Amity made a face and turned the scroll straight back off. She'd rather just stare off at completed work, thanks.
Either by some stroke of Titan-gifted luck or just some strangely fortunate coincidence, this was the time that Hunter chose to burst through the door, sounding as if he had just bolted the length of the building to get here. Amity glanced up at him and immediately noticed him shaking slightly as he breathed heavily. Huh, maybe she hadn't been that far off after all.
"Blight!" he called authoritatively.
She grimaced slightly at the use of her surname. But, hey, her official title was 'Inspector Blight', so what was she to do? It would be unprofessional to have everyone call her Amity, anyway.
"Inspector," nodding at him and attempting to sound more composed than she actually was, so basically as if she wasn't secretly buzzing at Hunter's own enthusiasm in hopes that this was something big, she returned.
It probably sounded a little weird to be calling the Golden Guard simply by a different title that Amity herself shared, but judging as Hunter wasn't strictly speaking the Golden Guard right now, there wasn't really another option. Compounding the issue, Amity also couldn't just call her colleague by his surname, because she hadn't the faintest clue what it was. His ID just still listed him as the Golden Guard, and he'd only given her the name 'Hunter'. With the distaste she harboured for her own surname, she'd just decided not to push it.
"The Emperor himself has assigned us a case of the utmost importance! We are to leave at once!" in possibly the most grandiose tone Amity had ever heard him use, Hunter announced.
Ah hah! So it was a piece of fieldwork! A small grin escaped from the corner of her lips as she stood up to brush herself off and otherwise prepare to leave. There wasn't even much she had to do to be mission-ready, anyway! As long as she had her tool belt and badge, of which one she kept out neatly on her desk and the other clipped inside her jacket pocket at all times, she was set!
When she nearly immediately strode for the exit to the office, Hunter startled. Where before his form had been leaning against the door frame confidently, now he was straightened, hands raised as if in protest. He swished his cape around (That he for some reason insisted on keeping wearing despite the impracticality of it for their job.) and stumbled after her, one of those hands still in the air.
"H-hold on! Where are you going!?" huffily, he stormed up to match her pace and demanded.
"Out of the building," she raised an eyebrow at him, "Isn't that obvious?"
Hunter clasped both of his hands somewhere behind his back and stood up a little taller, more regally. Amity said nothing about this strange display. Her colleague then proceeded to stride around to face her at her front, making sure his heels clacked noisily against the tiles on the floor with each step. He did this kind of a lot, actually... Someone had evidently taught him that it made him seem more intimidating or something. Subtly, or she hoped it was subtly, Amity rolled her eyes.
"I haven't debriefed you yet, Blight," cooly, he informed her.
Oh, Titan, so that was the problem? If it was so urgent of a task, couldn't he just debrief her on the flight over!?
"I thought you said it was of utmost importance to the Emperor!" she countered, already beginning to slide past Hunter.
If there was one thing everyone (Or, at least, nearly everyone.) on the Boiling Isles knew, it was that if the Emperor asked something of you, of you personally, then you wanted to comply. There was no better way of moving up through the ranks and, even if Amity was maybe slightly wary of it herself, Belos did seem to literally be able to speak to the Titan, so there was a reason he was in charge.
"It is! That's why we can't afford to-" Amity got fed up with his speel halfway through and committed to just shoving past him.
She rolled her eyes at him, this time not at all subtly, as she passed. He muttered something that she didn't quite catch due to the mask and followed after her at a brisk jog. Fortunately, the main doors to the station were not too far from Amity and Hunter's office, unlike wherever her colleague had gotten informed of the case himself, then.
Once they reached the open patio, both went for their staffs. Amity summoned Ghost (Yet another reason as to why staying legally covenless was a good idea for now; you did not keep palismen in the Emperor's Coven.) with a quick spell and was ready to ride in a matter of seconds. Hunter must have been hiding his Golden Guard staff under his cloak the whole time, because he too had it out and ready when Amity looked over.
Actually, that was a funny story. See, Amity knew Hunter had a palisman of his own somehow, a small red cardinal, but he never used it on duty. It was probably some strange rule implemented by Belos, if she had to guess, but it had always struck here as wholly bizarre. From the fleeting moments she'd seen her colleague and the bird, they seemed remarkably close, easily as so as Amity and Ghost if not, dare she say it, somehow more! Hunter treated this bird like they were his best friend or something, but she'd never once seen them with him whilst at work.
This really wasn't the time to be pondering the complexities of Hunter's odd habits, though. Both inspectors were off the ground and racing through the sky, with the superior officer flying just slightly ahead to control direction, only a few short moments after being ready for take-off.
"We need to head to the West side of Bonesborough," a little louder than usual as to combat the rush of the wind, Hunter explained.
"What's the story?" she shot back, eager for more details.
Amity caught Hunter, or she should probably say 'the Golden Guard' since they were on duty and everything now, hesitate before responding. That was a little unlike him. Weren't snappy comebacks and annoying responses to nearly everything she said supposed to be this guy's thing?
"Robbery. We've received reports that Luzura is going to be there tonight,"
And then it was Amity's turn to hesitate. She flinched in place and nearly ended up sliding off of the side of her staff. No... Her first proper proper assignment and it was this? Huh, maybe partnering with the Golden Guard did have its perks after all.
"Luzura? As in... Luzura Clawthorne?" she affirmed.
Her colleague clinked his fingers at the metal of his mask with a small, almost inaudible clink, despite the customary gloves he always wore, "That'd be the one... If our intel is correct, then we should be able to corner her tonight and take her in for good,"
You really would have to have been living under a rock to be working for the Emperor's Coven's Security department and not have heard of Luzura. It sounded kind of cliche, but she really was just that much of an urban legend around Amity's office. A new, young super thief who seemed to have taken on her name in honour of the last major thorn in the Emperor's side, Edalyn Clawthorne, and had succeeded in stealing from people from all over the Isles, was kind of a big deal. Currently, as Amity understood it, the majority of the rest of her department had an active bet going as to whether Luzura was actually related to Edalyn or not. If she participated in such juvenile activities herself, perhaps she would have been excited to uncover such a truth.
For his part, the Golden Guard actually seemed to be doing a remarkably good job at keeping a cool head at this kind of news then. A little hesitation and rush was nothing in the face of finally getting a chance to catch one of the Boiling Isles' most notorious criminals. Perhaps they could even track down what had happened to Edalyn and take her in too once they caught Luzura!
Amity smirked at the thrill of such a hunt and ushered Ghost to speed up just a little bit. She was not letting this opportunity go to waste...
When they eventually arrived at a suitable landing point in the right section of Bonesborough, she had little choice but to turn to the Golden Guard for guidance. As the commanding officer on this mission, he had seniority and had to be the one to make decisions. Or something like that, anyway. If it came down to it, Amity would be more than happy to make the plan herself.
"Okay, Blight, I'm going to go track down the building she should be escaping from, and you're going to wait here. If she comes this way, do not hesitate, even if I'm behind her. Block the exit, fire off spells, do whatever you need to catch her," her colleague expounded.
She agreed easily, expression spread solemnly with most of her features in a taut line. If this was her chance, she was going to take it. Everything was an opportunity, even acting as an exit blocker for someone else.
"Understood, Inspector. Keep in touch?" she found herself following up on his plan and raising the walkie talkie that had been previously clipped to her tool belt.
The Golden Guard was already part of the way running down the street at this point, but he found the time and space to shuffle sideways slightly and agree with her. He pointed to walkie talkie strapped to his own belt, if she was reading his motions correctly, and nodded harshly.
"Radio in if you see anything!" he shouted back to her.
After that, her colleague must have decided running was inefficient, and opted to use his staff to teleport straight out of sight, leaving a laser-like trail in his wake. There was the Golden Guard's signature move, then. Maybe someday Amity could get him to teach her a speel like that. Teleportation was quite powerful magic and it would be very useful... She also had heard that the Head Witch of the Abomination Coven used such spells, so it was certainly possible for her to learn.
And then the stakeout began. Waiting ready became the game Amity had to be playing. It really wasn't any tougher than waiting around in Blight Manor whilst grounded, though. At least she knew something was going to come of this. That had never been there left in an empty room as a child. She sighed and tried to stay focused.
After a good ten minutes had elapsed, including times where a few locals had approached Amity to see what was going on (She'd had to politely tell them that it was classified, of course.), something caught Ghost's eye. The tip of her ear twitched and then the cat was leaning around to examine a nearby rooftop from atop Amity's staff. Jumping to attention, this prompted the inspector to examine that area herself. And then she saw it.
A flash of purple, surely the same shade as that seen on Luzura's cloak in the few photos they actually had of her, was skimming across the skyline. She was trying to use the rooftops as means of escape, then? The Golden Guard had told Amity to hold down the fort in this alley here, but then he had also said to make sure she caught Luzura no matter what... This was under her jurisdiction, right?
In the end, she opted to just get onto the line she had with her colleague over walkie talkie whilst amidst the process of climbing swiftly and also quietly (As to not alert Luzura of her presence.) up to the rooftop. She probably could have just flown up, but Amity really didn't want to take any chances of startling Luzura, so using magic to scale the outer wall of a building it was! Thank Titan she was an abomination witch primarily and not say, an illusionist!
"Inspector, come in!" she hissed into the device Ghost was holding out for her from where they were hanging off of her shoulder.
"Blight! Any updates?" came the tinny voice back through it.
She pulled herself up and over a window before responding.
"Yes, I have Luzura in my sights now - she's on the rooftops. Permission to engage?"
Amity just about managed to make out the fact that her colleague had just muttered something on his end, but not quite what. If that had been her, it would have been a string of curses. But whatever, that wasn't exactly important right now.
"I'm still pursuing her myself, but yes, permission granted. I was going to steer her down to your station, but this works too. I'll signal you when you're in sight and we can corner her," evenly, so doing pretty well under the pressure, then, the Golden Guard ordered.
"Understood," Amity confirmed before swinging herself up and over the final leg to the rooftop.
She spotted Luzura, still running, almost immediately after. Strangely enough though, she couldn't see the Golden Guard. Maybe... Was he tailing Luzura stealthily? It seemed weird judging as he'd said he'd signal Amity, but maybe the signal would be her finally noticing him. Whatever, it was irrelevant anyway! She had a thief to catch!
Carefully, Amity bolted towards the blur of purple she could see on the rooftop ahead. One wrong step and she could be sent tumbling down to street level, but one step too slow and Luzura would be gone. Fortunately enough, she had a plan for this; she just needed to get within range of her target... Hopefully this wasn't going against what the Golden Guard had told her too much...
That particular opportunity came in the form of Luzura skidding against the concrete slightly, to slow herself in preparation from a vault between buildings. Without sparing any time, Amity began to draw a spell circle and summon some material to restrain the thief. She'd just about managed to catch one of Luzura's boots using this method when a second idea struck her. She changed the spell to start moving a very special type of abomination goo from the jar of it she always carried and wrapped it neatly around the middle of her foe.
Once Amity was sure that Luzura was properly constrained, she approached. She made sure to also have her staff out to seem more threatening, of course. Not that the thief was watching her, for whatever reason... No, Luzura was still bending and pulling against the mass of abomination goo tied around her waist and bubbling in a puddle around her feet for that. Amity scowled. She'd been sort of hoping for at least a little appreciation. Even a short grunt of acknowledgement her way would have been nice...
Up close like this, one could begin to notice a lot more about this super thief, though. For one, she was maybe not as impressive as Amity had thought. Maybe it had been farfetched, but she'd always pictured someone intimidating, but this woman? She was perhaps actually shorter than Amity, and a good chunk of her bulk seemed to come from a puffy jacket and set of trousers underneath the cloak. It made her seem a little more real, though.
Luzura's hands were contradictory to expectations in a completely different fashion, of course. Amity thought an accomplished thief would have those kind of long, spindly fingers that you saw on entertainment programmes. The kind of fingers that could elegantly swipe a treasure from out of your grasp, not some clenched mass concealed beneath a pair of woollen gloves. These seemed a lot more... friendly, if that made sense. She thought they seemed like the kind of hands that you'd want to have tightly hold your own, not rob your most prized possessions.
But enough about hands! Amity had some kind of stolen valuable to locate on Luzura's person! Craftily, she cast a quick beast-keeping spell that Edric had taught her recently to try and scan through the cloak. Funny though, it wasn't working. Luzura was still straining against her restraints, steadfastly refusing to give Amity the time of day, and she was certain she'd cast the spell correctly... But that could only mean? Amity narrowed her eyes. Did Luzura have a witches' wool cloak!?
She faltered for a moment and bent down to examine it. The look of the fibres and the way they almost seemed to sparkle was in line with witches' wool, but how could Luzura possible have gotten it? And before you ask why couldn't she just have stolen it, that was not an option; this stuff was valued too highly to not be reported if it had been robbed. There hadn't been any reports of stolen witches' wool back at the station... Then who would sell it to someone like Luzura? It was common knowledge that you could back a good few snails by selling it directly to the Emperor! Night Market sales couldn't possibly be better than that!
Unfortunately, Luzura noticed Amity's distraction and took this time to twist her body upwards, hitting Amity in the jaw with her shoulder. The inspector hissed in pain and retreated.
"Watch it!" she snarled.
She was expecting the thief to scoff at her, or maybe just cackle. She was a wild witch after all... And Amity had just literally told the person she had tied up to not hit her... But it was the strangest thing! Luzura did none of that. She just looked over with these big, brown eyes and winced at Amity's expression.
"Oh, gosh, I am so sorry, Miss, uh..." she briefly tried scanning Amity's suit for any sign of a name, "Inspector! I didn't mean to hit you that hard," Luzura hurriedly apologised.
Really, Amity should have been worried about the whole trying to find out her name thing, but there was something oddly endearing about the way this thief had just hit her and then profusely proclaimed that she was sorry for it. It was most likely all just some kind of act, and one that Amity wasn't going to fall for at that, but that didn't stop her from being intrigued all the same.
Amity put on her best steely glare, "Yeah, well, just don't try it again,"
A funny expression crossed Luzura's face. It looked like some kind of mix between disappointment and indignation, though, then again, the thief was wearing some kind of grey bandana over the lower half of her face, so it was a tad hard to tell. Instead of pondering that, Amity elected to just cross her arms and continue to glare.
"Sheesh, okay... I was just trying to be nice..." Luzura tipped her head away and mumbled.
"I'm literally holding you captive right now. We're going to take you to prison, probably the Conformatorium, once my associate gets here!" more confused than ever now, asserted Amity.
The thief sighed and leaned backwards, letting the abomination goo at her feet keep her standing. She didn't look particularly annoyed by Amity's declaration or anything, though. A little contemplative (Always a dangerous expression...) and maybe, if Amity were to really search the depths of the warmth in this... criminal's eyes, hurt, but not angry. Weren't people supposed to get angry when you threatened to lock them up?
"Nah, I get it. But I have nothing better to do than make conversation, then... I'm probably not getting out of this... uh, stuff any time soon, it would seem," Luzura shrugged her shoulders and admitted.
Amity laughed haughtily, "That 'stuff', as you put it, is magic restricting abomination fluid. Of course you're not getting out of it!"
"Neat! That actually makes a lot of sense!" she winked, "Thanks for the tip!"
Amity's face burned red when she realised she'd technically just told her entire plan to the enemy. Well! It would be fine! There was still no practical way for Luzura to escape, anyway! Not on a rooftop like this! And not when the Golden Guard was presumably on his way over right as they spoke! Actually, saying that... She should probably check in with her colleague, just to see where he'd gotten to.
She grabbed the walkie talkie off of her belt and turned and walked a short distance away to get some privacy. It was alright though; she left Ghost on guard duty. She was still covering all grounds, just on the off chance Luzura lived up to her reputation and pulled off some kind of miracle to escape.
"Golden Guard," she activated the device and whispered into it, "Come in, it's Inspector Blight,"
There was some crackling of static, and for a moment Amity feared the worst had happened to him. But this was the Emperor's right-hand man she was talking about; he hadn't earnt his position for nothing! As she came to realise, that annoying noise was just the wind blowing past him as he ran. She scanned the horizon once again for any sign of him whilst she waited for him to start talking.
"I should hope so! What's the update, Blight? I don't see you," he eventually grunted, sounding pretty out of breath.
"I don't see you either," she quirked an eyebrow (Even though she knew he couldn't see that...) and retorted, "But good news! I have Luzura - she's contained in some abomination goo right now,"
Another pause and rush of static.
"No... You can't have her. I- I'm chasing her right now! I can see her, Blight!" he bit back at her through what sounded like gritted teeth.
Amity frowned into the walkie talkie. The Golden Guard had to be mistaken, right? Was he just watching from a really odd angle? Or... Was he...?
"The Luzura in front of me right now is definitely real," she insisted, "She spoke to me and everything. Are you sure you're not chasing an-" she began only to be cut off.
"Illusion? I didn't think so, but-"
Ghost started mewling loudly. Amity slammed her walkie talkie back into her tool belt and whipped around just in time to see Luzura somehow manage to set the abomination goo that should have completely stopped her from any magic at all on fire in a bright and very definitely magical burst of light.
She could only watch in horror as the whole thing melted right off of the thief. She was running right towards her, but there wasn't particularly much she could do to actually stop Luzura right about then - sending over more abomination goo would just end up in an even larger pile of half-melted... stuff.
"Wait! Don't take a step further!" furiously, she called out.
Luzura vaulted across the gap to the next roof using another burst of fire. Amity cursed under her breath.
"That doesn't count, right? 'Cause it's not a step?" the thief laughed cheekily and waved as she darted off again.
Clenching her fists, Amity stormed off towards the gap and drifted swiftly across it herself using Ghost's staff. In fact, once she'd gotten across, she saw no reason to stop using the staff, and just chose to chase Luzura like that. It was much quicker than running and Amity wasn't running the risk of running out of energy. She smirked proudly as she began to quite clearly gain on Luzura, but her foe just put her head down and pushed herself to run faster.
They were quickly approaching another crevice between two buildings again. Any second now, Luzura would have to slow down and then she'd be right back under Amity's thumb! And rest assured, there was no way she was going to take her eyes off of her enemy for even a single second, this time. No more trickery! Whatever she'd somehow managed to do last time to break the enchantment of the abomination goo was not something Amity particularly cared for a repeat of.
Just like last time, Luzura skidded to a halt just before reaching the end of her runway except, this time, she was standing right on the edge of the roof, back facing the open air and fall right behind her. Amity almost hesitated. Was this... some kind of sympathy tactic? Was Luzura relying on her to not be willing to constrict her again, lest the thief be sent tumbling down into an abyss of alleyway? Well, it wasn't going to work! Amity knew how to be careful!
"What, is the poor little thief scared? You know you can't make that jump without me catching you," smugly, Amity taunted.
Watching Luzura like this, towering over her from a staff, Amity began to understand the feeling Ghost liked so much of toying with prey. Because Amity was going to be the one to bring in the great super thief, now. It was happening. Luzura was all at her mercy.
"Scared?" Luzura giggled, "Nah. And who said I was going to jump?"
Amity scarcely had time to dig out any response at all before the thief let herself go off the edge of the building.
She just... leaned backwards and... fell.
Yes, backwards. No, not with any kind of visible protection spell. It was just Luzura and those stupid confident eyes falling directly downwards, cloak fluttering daintily out in all directions. Despite the danger, Luzura looked somewhat... pleased. Or, at least, she did until she completely vanished from view. No spell circle cast, no magical artefact visibly used. The thief's hands had been tangled in the edge of her cloak! There wasn't room to have even cast a spell or used an artefact!
It took Ghost's insistent meowing to shake Amity out of her stupor and back to a mode ready to investigate. She swooped down to the alley floor, but there wasn't a single sign that Luzura had ever even been there to begin with. It didn't make sense! You couldn't cast some kind of flying or invisibility spell without a potion or a circle! And Luzura had clearly used neither! The same thing with her escaping Amity's abomination goo too, if she had to guess!
Amity narrowed her gaze and scanned the floor again, just to be sure. There was no more a bag of stolen goods conveniently left behind than there was even a footprint. She was completely and utterly stumped. Which for someone like Amity, was a rarity. Was the point of all those extra classes her mother had made her take at Hexside if she still couldn't figure something like this out then, huh!?
"Blight!" a familiarly annoying voice grated at her ears from above.
Sure enough, the Golden Guard was up on the edge of the rooftop now. Little too late there, buddy... She scowled and flew back up to confer with him about what their next move should be.
"Is it possible to do magic with no visible signs?" she demanded as soon as both feet had touched down on the stone.
Her colleague averted his eyesight (Yes, it was still easy to tell despite his mask when the guy had literally shifted his entire head in a different direction.) and flinched.
"Not... really? Not with any modern techniques, anyway," perplexed and perhaps a tad cautious, he answered, slowly.
"Well, maybe we need to update our modern ways, then," she looked dead at him, " Because I just saw Ms Super Thief Luzura Clawthorne dive off of this roof and vanish without any sign of a spell circle or potion,"
As it turned out, today was really not going to be a good day for Hunter. When he'd first received that message from his uncle detailing the exact incident that Luzura had instigated, he'd been excited, hopeful even, that today was going to be his shot at proving himself finally to Belos, but no. Apparently, Luzura had jumped off of a rooftop and disappeared into thin air along with Hunter's best chance of not becoming the laughing stock of the Emperor's Coven.
He'd transferred to working in security part-time to prove himself capable, not to only have the situation from before compounded!
Hunter buried his face into the main pillow on his bed and ripped off his cloak. Stupid thing... What was the point of being the Golden Guard if he couldn't actually do anything to protect the citizens of the Boiling Isles from such a dangerous threat as Luzura Clawthorne! She was a Clawthorne! After Lilith's... leave a few years back they (Yes, him too) really should have been expecting this! But no! No one had thought to check up on her and now it was Hunter's full responsibility to clean up the mess...
He'd also sort of been hoping that things would be looking up again by the time he'd gotten back to the Castle, but nope! That'd still definitely been an illusion that had tricked him, and the Luzura that Blight had lost track of had definitely been carrying the Emperor's stolen belongings. Oh, yeah, he hadn't mentioned that before, had he? The reason he, and by proxy Blight, had been given the mission of stopping Luzura was because she had just been making her way out of the Castle after raiding the place and taking something (Belos hadn't specified to him what.) from it.
He was due for an audience with the Emperor shortly, now. Kikimora had gleefully promised him that much.
Struggling to breathe, Hunter straightened himself up on the bed and tried to clear his head. On the plus side, it hadn't been all his fault? But he couldn't just cast all the blame onto Blight... For all of what he'd seen so far, she was a diligent worker and did show plenty of promise! Throwing everything all on her would be unfair... She still deserved her chance, right?
Nervously, he ran his hand through his hair. That was when Flapjack decided would be best to make their entrance. Hopping sorrowfully up to him, they tried to stubbornly assure him that there had to be a way to convince Belos to keep him going through a series of urgent chirps and whistles.
"I don't think so, buddy... Not this time. You," he paused, "Don't know him like I do..."
A distant expression fell over his bird's face. It was one that they always wore when they would clam up and refuse to speak about their past beyond when they'd just decided to follow Hunter back to the castle one day. He knew they had a history in this world, a long and detailed one at that, but they always refused to tell him anything. They had never even actually told him why they'd decided that him, a solider for the Emperor who literally destroyed any of their kind that he came into contact with, was someone to stay with. They'd just seen him one day whilst he was patrolling the outskirts of Bonesborough and decided to stick with him.
Weird that they would act like that now, though.
"I just... We need a clue! Something to go off of! Then Uncle wouldn't be so mad, right!?"
Flapjack chirped softly at him.
"No, I know I can't make something up... I don't suppose you think I missed anything out there, right?" he sighed.
Technically, Flapjack had been out there with him the whole time today. Sure, they'd been hiding in the compartment on his belt all day, and sure, he wasn't entirely sure how conscious they were when they hung out in a state like that, but they had been there!
They still shook their little bird head from side to side in the negative though... Hunter gave them a pained look. Something about his sad face must have really been on point in that moment, (Or maybe Flapjack had been about to do this anyway...) because his palisman then decided to flutter over to his desk and start making a ruckus about something on it.
Cautiously, he approached whatever they were squawking at. Something about the fact that Flapjack was still a bird made it a little hard to understand sometimes, but this was not one such occasion. When his palisman began dancing in front of the tucked away copy of 'From Bones to Earth: A Study of Wild Magic', he got the message loud and clear, though.
"Good idea, bird!" giving them a little side smile, he complimented.
He took the book off the desk and returned to his bed to flip through to the relevant pages.
"I think we have wild magic to pin on this Luzura..."