CHAPTER 12: THE UNSEEN GAZE
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The scrying itch was a maddening, psychic mosquito bite. It wasn't a physical sensation, but a pressure against the edge of my awareness, a faint distortion in the air that only I and, I sensed, Nyx could perceive.
Something watches, her thought came, sharp and wary. It tastes of stale parchment and ambition. It is not the demon kin.
That was a small relief. Vorgath was a blunt instrument of annihilation. This was subtler, more insidious. A political player or a rival power.
I stood in the center of the inner courtyard, closing my eyes to better focus. The Kingdom Management interface was useless here. This was a problem for the System's core functions. I navigated to the Quest Log, focusing on the [The Scrying Eye] objective.
[Analyzing Mystical Resonance...]
[Trace Origin: South-Southeast. Distance: Approximately 80 miles.]
[Signature Identified: High Mana Purity. Pattern suggests formal training. Probability of Origin: Aethelgard Royal Astral Academy - 87%.]
The Academy. My blood ran cold. In the novel, this was where Draco would soon enroll, the epicenter of his early power base and the place where I, as the original Leo, was meant to be a forgotten casualty. They weren't just a school; they were a political and magical powerhouse with deep ties to the crown. Their attention was far more dangerous than Baroness Katarina's.
The quest updated.
[Sub Objective: Establish a Basic Ward to obscure the scrying.]
[Hint: Utilize local geomantic ley lines and a focal point of power.]
I had 100 Plot Points. The [Basic Warding Knowledge] was the reward, not something I could buy. I was on my own.
Ley lines. I remembered from the novel's lore that Stonecrest was built on a minor confluence, a place where the world's magical veins crossed. It was why the land was so fertile and why the demons wanted it. Our keep's foundation stone was supposedly placed directly over the confluence.
I strode into the main keep, down into the cold, damp undercroft where the foundation stone,a massive, unadorned slab of granite sat. The air here hummed with a low, thrumming energy I had never noticed before. Now, with my senses heightened by the System and my bond with Nyx, it was as obvious as a heartbeat.
This was the focal point.
But I needed a conductor, something to shape the wild, earthy energy into a defensive ward. My eyes fell on the [Minor Shadow Crystal] in my pocket. It was unstable, but it was power.
"Leo?" Luna's voice echoed from the stairs. She descended, holding a lantern. "I felt... a strange pull. Is everything alright?"
"Someone is watching us from afar. The Royal Academy. I need to block them." I showed her the crystal. "I need to use this, but I don't know how to shape the ward."
Her brow furrowed. "A ward is like a pattern. A recipe for energy. Like the antidote, but for magic instead of poison." She looked at the foundation stone, then at the crystal in my hand. "You have the ingredients. You need the formula."
That was it. I couldn't buy the knowledge, but I could use what I had. I had the Aegis Codex. I had a computational engine.
[System Command: Simulate warding schematics based on available components: Geomantic Ley Line Energy (Earth), Minor Shadow Crystal (Universal/Entropy). Objective: Create an obscuring field to block divination.]
The System whirred silently in my mind. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a complex, three dimensional schematic unfolded in my vision. It was crude, inefficient, and brutally simple a stopgap measure. But it was a blueprint.
[Simulation Complete: 'Rustic Obscurement Ward' designed.]
[Cost: 0 Plot Points.]
[Effect: Creates a localized field that scrambles low to mid-level divination attempts. Duration: Permanent until focal point is destroyed.]
It was perfect.
"Hold the lantern high," I instructed Luna.
I placed the Shadow Crystal in the exact center of the foundation stone. Following the System's schematic, I began to trace runes in the dust around it with my finger. They weren't elegant, flowing elven script; they were angular, brutalist shapes that looked more like circuit diagrams than magic. They were designed for function, not form, to channel the raw power efficiently.
As I completed the final symbol, I pressed my palm against the crystal and pushed a trickle of my own mana into it, jump starting the reaction.
The crystal flared with violet light. The runes I'd drawn ignited one by one, burning with a cold, dark flame before sinking into the stone itself. The hum of the ley line intensified, focused now, spinning into an invisible dome of distorted energy that expanded outwards from the keep, washing over the walls and the fields before fading from sight.
The psychic "itch" of the scrying vanished instantly, snipped off as if by a pair of cosmic shears.
[Quest Completed: The Scrying Eye]
[Reward: +200 Plot Points, Basic Warding Knowledge Unlocked.]
[Plot Deviation: +2% (Total: 10%)]
A flood of fundamental warding principles filled my mind, how to sense magical observation, the different schools of divination and their counters, how to anchor wards to power sources. It was the foundation upon which I could build true magical defenses.
Luna stared at the now dormant foundation stone, her face pale in the lantern light. "What have we become, Leo? Dealing with dragons, fighting off magical spies..."
"We've become survivors," I said, my voice softer now. "And to survive what's coming, we need to become more. We need to be a power."
As we ascended the stairs back to the main hall, a new, different alert pulsed in my vision. Not a quest, but a notification from the Kingdom Management module I hadn't seen before.
[Diplomatic Missive Received.]
[Source: Baroness Katarina of Riverbend.]
[Status: Unread.]
So, the fleeing scout had delivered his message. The first official response was here.
I found my father and Cassian in the study. My father held a sealed scroll of fine vellum. He looked from the scroll to me, his expression unreadable.
"It's from Katarina," he said. "Her herald delivered it at the gate. He wouldn't even dismount." He handed it to me. "It's addressed to 'The Lord of Stonecrest.'"
The implication was clear. The outside world was no longer addressing Conrad Stark, Baron of Stonecrest. They were addressing the new power. Me.
I broke the seal and unrolled the scroll. The script was elegant, but the words were sharp as daggers.
'To the one who styles himself Lord of Stonecrest,
'Strange tales travel on the wind. Tales of unnatural growth, of shadows that blot out the sun, and of the Stark banner flying over a keep that by all rights should have fallen. The Crown looks unfavorably upon upstarts who disrupt the peace of the borderlands, especially those who consort with monstrous beings.
'I, and other loyal lords of the region, would have... clarification. You will present yourself at my keep in three days' time to account for these irregularities and the unauthorized seizure of my men during the recent... disturbances.
'Refusal will be interpreted as an act of rebellion.
'Baroness Katarina of Riverbend.'
It was a summons. A thinly veiled demand for submission. She was testing me, trying to see if the dragon was a trained beast or if the man behind it was a true power.
Cassian read it over my shoulder and snorted. "She wants you to crawl to her gates so she can see if you're a threat to be eliminated or a puppet to be controlled."
"Three days," my father murmured. "The time it takes for a fast rider to reach the capital and for a royal decree to be sent back, denouncing us as traitors and authorizing her to put us down."
I rerolled the scroll, my mind cold and clear. This wasn't an obstacle. It was an opportunity.
The Dragon Baron had been challenged. It was time to decide how he would answer.
CHAPTER 12 COMPLETE
Next: Leo prepares for the meeting with Baroness Katarina, a diplomatic mission that is anything but. He must decide how to project power and navigate the treacherous waters of regional politics.
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