Lana stood at the back door for the castle gazing out over the massive garden area of the castle. It was mostly dead after so many years of neglect. To her, she was staring at a blank canvas and she was the painter.
The first this she did was go to the very center and plant a willow. While it was growing almost as tall as the castle, she went around the wall and planted vegetables, legumes, leafy greens, and all kinds of fruit.
Lana was getting ready to harvest when she heard sounds like combat so she had the tree swing her to the top of the wall. She still had Caser and her bag on and almost fell. She dropped down into a squat and put her hands on top of the wall as well to stabilize herself. She then noticed Quinn and Timmy.
They had a crate on wheels that was moving on its own. There were ten vampires, some appeared to be trying to steal the crate. Lana decided to sit on the wall and watch, wishing she had some popcorn. Quinn seemed to be handling the issue okay but then she saw Quinn was stuck, he was unable to move. She decided to send out some roots. She was strong enough now she didn't even need to touch the ground to create them. It did make the roots stronger if she could.
Lana saw the boneclaw from the cave emerge and detach the arms of a vampire. She decided to just use the roots to hold the crate in place. She watched as Quinn told the boneclaw that wasn't what he wanted, though it seemed he did to her. The bone claw turned into mist and went into Quinn. She then knew that was his familiar. The crate was no longer being stolen so she released the roots.
Timmy and Quinn used the vampire healing ability to attach the vampire's arms back on. Lana listened as Quinn asked why they tried to steal the blood. The vampire explained the first family had promised if they brought blood there would be a recommendation of transfer as a reward. There was no future in being in the tenth. Quinn let him go and Lana called him over. Quinn heard her and decided to listen for a second.
"What's your name?" She called down to him.
"Shalt. Why are you on the castle wall? Aren't you afraid Edward will get angry?"
"No, I have his permission to use this garden area. Look, I saw what happened over there. I was wondering if you'd like to do some business with me."
He looked dubious but continued to listen.
She pulled Caser down into her arms, "this little guy needs to learn how to hunt for himself. He was orphaned and has yet to learn. I need someone to bring me two beasts a day that are able to move on their own so he can hunt them and kill them himself. Are you interested?"
"How much are you willing to pay?"
"How much do you think such a job should pay? I also don't want anyone to know about this job. It's between us. I will meet you here every day at this time until he's able to hunt by himself."
"I'd say 50 credits per beast, 1900 to keep me quiet."
"Done. See you tomorrow. Oh, and if I see anyone else, I will deny this conversation ever happened."
The man walked away with a smile. Quinn gave her a thumbs up.
She returned to the task at hand. She entered the dining area looking for a potential kitchen. She realized she should be using her light crystal in here since there were no lights yet and was finally able to find what she was looking for. There were a whole bunch of crates lining a wall that she set in a row and they all followed her. She went out into the garden and filled them up. Just as she was ready to bring them all in, everyone else came out.
They were expecting the open field it once was. Lana would never leave something so boring. They told her what they planned to do and she looked at Vorden, "are you sure this is wise?"
Logan assured her it was likely safe but Vorden stood off to the side, halfway to the outer wall opposite the castle wall. The others stood a good bit way. She watched with her bottom lip between her teeth. Vorden stabbed his shoulder and injected the test liquid and nothing happened. He went to grab his white sword and make some moves when they heard a bang.
Suddenly there was a naked boy that looked a lot like Vorden in the garden area, having jumped over the wall. It had scales running up its hands and its face. It had one spike on its back. Peter shouted that it was a dalki. Layla noticed it looked like Vorden. Lana noticed the tree didn't attack which meant it wasn't hostile.
On the way back to the castle after completing the delivery, Quinn and Timmy noticed something coming through the air toward his castle. Quinn and Timmy started running toward the castle, Quinn with the crate under his arm. Logan had spiders building armor. Peter was sweating, unable to move as memories of almost dying to a dalki came back. Lana was trying to calculate how a dalki could be friendly.
Layla threw a spirit chain. The dalki broke the chains which shocked her because when she tried it on Quinn before coming, he couldn't break them.
Vorden told her to stop, it wasn't trying to hurt them. She called him crazy, it was a dalki, of course it wanted to hurt them. Lana backed him up. "It's not a threat or the tree would be attacking him. And Vorden isn't crazy."
The dalki approached closer to Vorden, as did Lana. She felt she should be by his side for this one. The dalki called him brother. He then placed his fists in front of Vorden's face and opened them. Red ball pills fell out onto the ground. He said these were a gift for his brother. Suddenly a large square object came over the wall and hit the dalki, moving him back.
Timmy asked what Quinn was doing. He didn't know what a dalki was. Quinn asked his friends if everyone was okay. He then attacked the dalki and suddenly it had a second spike. Vorden and Lana both told Quinn to stop. Vorden explained to the dalki, Quinn was his best friend and Vorden made sure to call the dalki brother. Quinn stopped his attack when Vorden called him brother.
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Silver went to check on her brother. It was two days until the execution. She was denied entry which was against vampire law. Muka Fortuna from the 9th family, who is in charge of law enforcement, heard and demanded she be allowed in. She was not permitted to touch Fex but found him severely beaten.
Muka promised to take care of him. Seeing her brother in this state, no matter what Muka said to her, she now understood laws meant nothing to the other leaders. She was going to stand for her brother.
Upon exiting the cell, Muka's two knights who were standing guard were dead. He was told after he entered the cell, the two guards faced each other and slit each other's throats. Muka ordered the other guards to give blood to Fex. Just then a message was received. There was an emergency council meeting. Silver reluctantly returned to the 13th castle.
In the meeting room, Edward was acting as the leader of the tenth. Bryce asked him why the castle lit up, did the leader return? Edward said he was investigating it when he was summoned. Bryce was asking questions and using words making it sound like the tenth was forming an army. Edward got angry and used words that angered Bryce.
Bryce then used his influence skill on Edward. Edward let it be known he did not give the codes to the punisher. It was easy because Edward knew he wasn't a punisher so any questions about them would be safe to answer anyway; though there was no choice as the influence skill only allowed the truth. He was going to ask another question when Muka made him stop, reminding him it was a serious offense to use the influence skill against another leader.
Bryce was angry but moved on to the next order of business of access to the tenth castle. The king denied the request. He was forced to ask Edward who flatly refused, especially with how he was being treated.
It was then stated all leaders plus a knight from each family must attend the execution. Edward would stay in the main castle until the execution. Muka caught a smile on Bryce's face meaning he was up to something. Edward sent a silent prayer for Vincent to watch over the boy.
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