Cale was in his office in the Secret Garden. "Are you sure this will work?" He asked Felicity as he looked at the vial he held in his hand. The vial contained a mana substance that was a dark shade of plum purple. The glass jar had a white label on it with the word brown written in large black letters.
"Yes, Sir. I checked it out myself." Felicity beamed proudly. "It took a while to make it. Coming up with a liquid version that dyes hair was a really smart idea, Young Master."
When he had first hired Felicity, he really only had two main tasks for her other than gathering information and looking after the building. Those tasks included being a backup for Marcus during his dragon task and to create a liquid dye that could color hair. It was a real pain to have to rely on a mage to cast a spell every time he needed to change his hair color.
"I believe we can make a lot of money off of this if we market it," Felicity said with unconcealed excitement.
Cale felt his lips curl up into a wide grin. "That does sound like a fantastic idea." He walked over to the full-length mirror that was shoved in a corner of the office. "How does it work?"
Felicity walked over to him with a hairbrush in hand. "You just need to brush a small amount into your hair." As if sensing his next question, she said, "It stays in until you wash it out."
"Excellent, except for the fact that you could be caught in a sudden downpour."
"I am working on making one that will remove itself after an extended amount of time. Unfortunately, this isn't my area of expertise. I'm also only a mid-grade mage," Felicity said with a sigh.
Cale unscrewed the lid on the vial to reveal a dropper attached to it. He squeezed a few drops into the dropper before putting them onto the hairbrush that he had taken from Felicity. He screwed the lid back onto the vial and set it down on the small stand near the mirror. With steady, quick movements, he brushed the purple liquid through his short yet stylish red hair. He watched in amazement as the red strands turned into a medium dark brown color.
"Amazing. You did a wonderful job for a mid-grade mage," he told Felicity truthfully which earned him an honest, wide smile from the sandy brunette.
Just then, the door to his office opened. "The crown has started to make their move," Ron informed him.
Cale smiled at the news. It was a good thing that past Alberu Crossman was just as efficient as future Alberu Crossman. He knew that the prince would make his move as soon as he verified the documents that Cale had Felicity and Ron leave on his desk. "Perfect. We leave at once."
. . . .
Cale was standing just outside of the woods behind the Tolz villa. His now dyed-brown hair was slicked back, and a black mask was covering the upper half of his face. His black suit was made of the finest material and was rather flashy for the task ahead of him. On the left breast pocket was a gold outline of a dead tree with yellow gemstones woven in the branches.
Ron, Beacrox, and Marcus were standing behind him. Each was dressed in similar outfits. Felicity was back at the office in Rain City waiting for them with emergency potions at the ready.
Cale pulled out the gold pocket watch that he carried. The crown was due to arrive here within the hour. The mana disturbance tool that Ron had planted the prior day had two minutes left before it activated. If they timed it just right, then everything would turn out how Cale wanted it.
The three people readied their weapons. Cale, without any reluctance, gave permission for them to take care of the enemy however they pleased. He really could care less if they were met with painful deaths since they had a hand in torturing a child.
"Everyone have their scrolls?" Cale had purchased scrolls that would take them back to his office after they were finished here or if an emergency arose during the mission. He really needed to look for a high or highest-grade mage who would be able to perform teleportation spells or could make teleportation scrolls. There was only so much a mid-grade mage could do.
The three confirmed that they did, in fact, have their scrolls.
Cale looked back at the pocket watch. "Ten seconds." He then pocketed the watch and readied his longsword.
The four of them shot off as soon as the ten second mark came. Ron and Marcus moved to the front of the group, moving through the shadows. Beacrox followed closely behind Cale. They moved through the trees, keeping to the darker spots of the woods trying to avoid the sun's rays. It was definitely strange doing a heist of sorts in broad daylight, but they wanted to time it with the arrival of the knights.
A thud came from in front of him as a body fell to the ground. Ron moved away from the now deceased guard, hunting for his next target.
More enemies were spotted as they neared the cave's entrance. Ron moved to the right while Marcus went left. Cale barreled on straight ahead with Beacrox guarding his back.
A guy in cheap black clothing and muddy, worn-out boots swung his sword at him. Cale brought his own sword up and blocked the attack before spinning out of the way. He kicked the thug in the back of the leg before bringing his sword down to dispatch the man. Cale quickly spun on his heels to take care of the next person. He came to a stop and his mouth fell open, not caring if he looked like a noble or not at the moment.
The eighteen men that were hired to guard the cave were already taken care of. It looked like Ron and Marcus did most of the work. Those two were definitely some scary old men.
He closed his mouth and shook his head. There was no time to be shocked. He turned away from the scene and entered into the cave with his sword ready. Beacrox moved up until he was in front of him while Ron and Marcus took the rear this time.
They walked in silence. The ground was smooth so they did not have to worry about watching their step too much. Torches lined the walls, lighting up their path. They didn't pass by anyone on their way to the main part of the cave.
The cave opened up. Cale and Beacrox both paused in their step.
There was a large cage in the center of the cave. In the cage was a table filled with various tools used for torture, such as whips, pliers, cutters, a whip with spikes on the end, and so forth. Directly in the center, where the ground was covered in blood stains, both new and old, a small black dragon was chained up. Around its neck was a mana restricting collar.
The scales of the small dragon were cracked with blood oozing out of them. The claws were cracked and bleeding. There were scars from the lashing of a whip covering the back and legs of the small creature.
"Wha- you can't be here!" A man shrieked.
Cale raised his sword to slice the man down. "The torturer," Marcus informed him. With a growl, Cale smacked him instead. The pathetic scumbag crumpled to the floor with a pitiful wine. With deft fingers and a scowl on his face, he fished the keys to the cage off the unconscious man.
When he stood up, he kicked the man in the gut then stepped on him when he went to the cage. The door opened up with a loud scraping sound that grated on their ears. He pulled out his spatial bag and grabbed the tools he needed from it.
He kneeled down by the baby dragon and cut the chain holding it with a loud rattling snap. Carefully, he picked the small child up in his arms as gently as he could. The four then made their way back out of the entrance of the cave. The small dragon peeked out from his arms. Before he could look at the sun, Beacrox laid his outer suit coat on top of the dragon. "It's bright out for your first time seeing it." The dragon growled but did not remove the jacket. They then set out and swiftly headed back to where the mana disturbance tool was located. Marcus quickly unburied the tool so that the healing potions could work.
Cale laid the dragon down on a soft spot and stayed kneeled beside him. He then pulled the jacket off slowly to allow the dragon to adjust to the light before handing it back to Beacrox. "I hope knowing that the men responsible for this will lose everything they hold dear to them; their money, pride, titles, and respect. They will lose everything that makes them a noble. Let them suffer having their pride taken away from them like they did to you, and in a few years, you can kill them." The baby dragon glared at him as if it did not like that idea.