*Date: 33,480 Second Quarter - Chalice Theocracy (A month ago)*
Lyra sat in a carriage with windows shut. They clearly wanted discretion but not so extreme that she was blindfolded. She wore her Fae form, the classic disguise for work in Chalice. Headmaster Kerapha had said the other day some important person requested a discrete and capable Chalician worker. And Lyra agreed. Even though she feared not for her life but for leaving Aris at Ivory Gate all alone.
Well, not all alone but with a snarky and useless fox.
After moving ten minutes with twists and turns, the horse carriage stopped. All those unforeseen shaking made her stomach lurch but she kept everything down where it was supposed to be. One hand took hers and helped her down, and what followed was walking, taking steps. Daylight cut off as they entered the building. Excellent smells welcomed her. The hand that took hers belonged to a well-built Chalician Templar. He escorted her into a mansion's library.
The room was breathtaking. Books lined walls that stretched two stories high, bound in leather and gold leaf, their spines gleaming in the light from crystal chandeliers. The shelves were carved mahogany, ornate with religious symbols and angels in relief. At the room's center sat a giant table, clearly designed for important meetings rather than eating. The wood was polished to a mirror sheen, surrounded by high-backed chairs upholstered in crimson velvet. Small marble statues occupied every corner, angels and saints frozen in poses of benediction. Every color was gold and red, Chalician in every aspect.
She looked around, afraid to leave her spot. The room was filled and organized by an exquisite designer. The carpet beneath her feet was thick enough to muffle footsteps, woven with golden thread depicting scenes from Chalice scripture.
Then the door opened and what followed almost made Lyra scream. High Priestess Aeloria entered. "I am caught," was the first idea that passed through her head. But again, why would she bring Lyra here as a guest if she was caught? She should have been shackled and in a torture chamber.
Lyra stood up. "High Priestess, I..." She tried to bow.
"No need to stand or make gestures," Aeloria said. She turned to her convoy. "Leave us."
"But your highness—" the guard protested.
"You think a nobody scribe can harm me? I said leave us."
"Days of me harming you will come. You traitor. Every past doing will be paid for. You took our freedom movement and are trying to turn it into your ascension," Lyra thought to herself, keeping her face carefully neutral.
After they left, Aeloria spoke. "I'll be open and not beat around the bush. I need someone capable who can both build specific stuff and not gonna talk around. Headmaster Kerapha told me you made wood and metal adjustments around the library. My previous crafter had a big mouth and now it's shut forever." She finished in a threatening way.
Lyra clenched her fist. It was definitely a threat. Headmaster must have seen the mechanical adjustments I made around the library, she thought. "I don't, I... what do you want from me, your highness?" she said in a half angry, half shy way. She was trying to control her anger but some stress was leaking out.
"Next month there will be a meeting here for the covenant of eleven kings and I will be the first host outside of their kingdom. I need them to be comfortable and safe."
"And... you want me to..."
"Stop interrupting." Aeloria's eyes turned red, a flash of divine power. "I want to make sure their protection and also their discretion is absolute. I have this."
She produced a small machine similar to Lyra's device but with glass attached to it. Lyra recognized it as a visual transmission and recording device. Like mine but this seems to require cable connection, she thought. She remembered pocketing a couple from the creator's lab the day she left their world.
Aeloria continued, "I have another room behind here. I want you to embed this into the bookcase without making sure it will not be visible from any leader. I don't want them to get anxious about any safety concerns."
"Yeah, safety concerns. And I am an idiot. It's for spying," Lyra said to herself without Aeloria hearing.
"What did you say?"
"It looks like creator tech and this looks like it requires a cable to attach. Also I need to make an opening to the wall and pull all those bookcases."
"Anything can and will be assisted. All the tools the previous crafter used are in the basement. Take any Templar or Priest and make it ready in a month."
"I will do, your highness."
"In case you are a meathead like the previous crafter, if you tell this to any soul, you'll be buried next to him along with every one of your kin."
The threat was very clear to Lyra.
***
Lyra took the tools. "I am not a crafter or builder but I am capable of anything," she thought. When she entered the next room she was amazed. The room was filled with glass screens showing parts of Chalice and some city squares of other kingdoms.
"Motherf..., took all the creator tech and is using it for herself and her reign," Lyra muttered to herself.
"Did you say anything?" the guard asked.
"Yeah, get your friends and remove all those bookcases across this wall."
All month Lyra worked as if doing surgery with a needle. She made sure to remember every curve of that bookcase. She produced such nice craftmanship. Nowhere in the meeting room did the camera glass shine to eyes. And in the monitoring room, recording was produced neatly.
She also worked out another plan. A plan where one wrong move, one wrong word would get herself killed. She stole house guard clothes and every time she took a bathroom or eating break, she turned into human form, wore guard clothes, and chatted with other house workers. She convinced everyone she was the new guard keeping an eye on the new crafter.
Even Aeloria, when she saw her, didn't suspect it. Her lapdog Crusador Kurgodan was too above himself to remember one puny guard.
The day of finishing the attachments, Aeloria dismissed her to the academy and once again made sure she shut her mouth. But she slipped into the bathroom and got out as human guard Lyra. She gave assurances about taking Lyra to the Academy. But she lingered as human and took her place at the guard room to plant her transmitting device to see all monitors from across the wall. Her device was nearly indistinguishable from the wall and could transmit without need of a cable. "Creator's gift," she thought. Well, it was stolen but creators stole their free will. Pretty even trade.
Kurgodan stopped Lyra in human guard form. "Are you the one taking the crafter back to academy?"
"Yes, sir."
"Take the carriage. She's done a fine job."
"She said she wanted to walk. Take in the good weather. Sticking around a whole month. She..."
"Fine... When you get back, report back to your captain."
She quickly, before anyone noticed, went downstairs, hailed guards as human Lyra, and gave vague answers about taking the special crafter to the academy.
When she found a secluded place near a canal, absolutely sure she was not being watched by Aeloria's guards, she turned to Fae form and gave herself bruises, ragged her clothes. She tied her guard clothes to branches and threw them inside the city canals, then reached Ivory Gate entry.
Lyra caught a guard she recognized and held him. "They killed her, a halfling woman killed her. She died protecting me. I got away hardly."
As guards from the priestess were called from the academy, she explained the made-up story of the human guard killed by a halfling with scars, matching descriptions from three months ago. Getting rid of all suspicion about a vanishing human guard.
But the head of the guard seemed unconvinced. "I will personally talk to Kurgodan about this," he said.
And Lyra took notice of that, making a note to herself to make every step more secure.