Chapter 126: Innvasion
Elsewhere :
Tiffania sits on the bed in her and Michael's shared inn room while skimming through the magical theory book yet again. She'd read through it completely at least three times by now, yet she still wasn't comprehending the various magical subjects spoken about.
She'd continued to meditate in the meantime as her mother had taught her, and while this had helped her control her magical energies, she didn't have any effective spells to direct her power, making essentially making her a horse without a carriage.
Something she did find useful to practise though was direct manipulation of the elements, Wind specifically. Nowadays, with but a flick of her wand she could knock a grown man down, though, this would take the majority of her magical energies due to how inefficient she still was with it.
She hoped that Michael would bring back another book, but she understood just how difficult such a request would be, so she didn't mention it to avoid distracting him from the tasks he had set before him.
Tiffania sighs and falls back onto the bed wondering just where this was all heading. They didn't really have anywhere to go, so unless they tracked through the entire world to reach Elven lands, or hid in the wilderness for the rest of their lives, they'd never find peace.
She couldn't ask Michael to accompany her to elven territory either, as they might just kill him on sight. Plus the fact that the elves might not even accept her for her half-heritage, or whether wanted to leave humanity behind.
She knew he had a 'plan' that he hadn't told her yet, whatever that was, but she had a niggling feeling that things wouldn't turn out well for either of them if they continued like this. She was worried about Michael's fixation on getting revenge as it seemed to come up whenever they spoke, even about things that weren't related to it at all.
Even now he was out in Londinium risking his life to get back at those who'd hurt him. Not that she could blame him but, she felt he was being too hasty... Why enter the capital during Prince Wales assassination when defences would be most alert? She knew he liked to rationalize his decisions after the fact, but to her it just showed how single-minded he was when his grudges were concerned.
Tiffania's thoughts are interrupted when she hears a knock on the door... She scrambles to get up and throw her cloak over her head, realising that the knock wasn't the one she and Michael had agreed upon, meaning it was someone else.
"Is anyone in there?" a gruff voice asks, and Tiffania contemplates whether or not to answer. She decides she has to though, as it may just be the inn owner checking to see the state of the room... Or something like that. "Y-yes! Do you need something?"
...
Upon not getting an immediate response, Tiffania readies her wand, not wanting to be caught off guard again. She'd meant those words she said in Cendri, she didn't want to be a victim anymore, and she certainly didn't want to cause Michael any more trouble, which getting hurt or kidnapped undoubtedly would.
*Click!*
*Creeaaaa-*
The lock clicks open and the door opens, revealing a man wearing expensive-looking armour and holding a wand-sword. "You, would you mind putting down your hood for me, little lady?" he politely asks, though, there was a clear threat in his tone.
Tiffania slowly nods, reaching up for her hood, but changes tactics and flicking her wand at the man, "Erase!" she chants, causing white light to strike the man who'd already put up his defences.
A magic shield appears before him, but the light seems to pierce it, causing his eyes to widen as they go glassy as his memory of Tiffania is stripped from his mind.
When he stills, Tiffania lets out a long breath, relieved that he hadn't managed to block her spell, she looks at the knight blankly standing there, "Sir, weren't you just about to chase a pickpocket who'd escaped into the slums with your coin pouch?" she asks, walking over and taking said pouch from his belt.
This wasn't a mind control despite might how it might sound, it's just that the after-effects of the mind erase spell to allow her to make suggestions that wouldn't conflict with the person's personality or intentions.
There was also the question of how she'd been discovered, the man might check back at the inn after not finding the pickpocket she'd sent him chasing after, so she and Michael would need to find somewhere else to stay...
The man leaves, and Michael arrives in the room not long after, he tosses the wet bag he was holding to the side, causing it to give a loud *squelch!* in response. "Tiffania! Are you alright? I saw the knight leave this place and figured the worst." he quickly says.
She smiles and nods, "I am, but we need to leave. He might be back soon, maybe with more men than before..."
"How did they find us?" he asks, his eye squinting his thought.
"I don't know... Maybe the innkeeper? I think all inns and taverns would be watched as Prince Wales execution is coming soon." she says, and he nods.
"Yeah... That sounds about right... Come on, let's go, if we can't find a good spot in the slums then we'll have to stay in the sewers for a bit." he states, causing her to frown at the thought of the stench. The slums alone were hell on her senses, so the sewers sounded like torture...
"Ah, did you get what you needed?" she asks and he nods, showing her the rather grisly-looking pufferfish livers all squished together in his sack. "... I see..."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Niggross
Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to : https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
Kingsprovince
JayJonnaJamison
Jack Allen
Faruk Ereng
Nathaniel Clayton
Chapter 127: Haste
It's been two days since Michael and Tiffania were forced to live in a hidey-hole in the slums, the duo taking great care to conceal their temporary home and ward off any slum-roamers who might attempt to harm Tiffania while he was away.
Their suspicions had proved correct, as only around two hours after Tiffania had sent away the mind-erased knight, a whole platoon visited the place, dragging the chained-up inn owner out as he begged for forgiveness.
Michael watched as they scoured the inn and questioned the inn owner after not finding anything. They weren't looking for him and Tiffania specifically, only the mage who'd messed with the knight's mind. The platoon, after getting tired of the man's 'silence', carried him over to the gallows where he was strung up for treason...
Michael could have probably done nothing about it, but the inn owner had tried ratting them out, so he got what he deserved in his honest opinion.
He hadn't done all that much in these two days, only continuing to scout out the city, prison, and looking for whatever his targets lived. Unfortunately, with his escape from Cromwell's control and Earl Tatiana's death not long after, the other nobles had been frightened like deer facing headlights.
Despite the 'celebratory occasion' of Prince Wales soon to be execution, none of the nobles who'd tormented him had dared showed their faces, in private or public settings. Rumours of their assassinations were actually beginning to pop up, but Michael doubted that they held any credence... After all, he'd promised himself to be the one who finally ended them.
The only one of Michael's targets that'd showed themselves was Baron Jargkon, the man who'd had him butcher innocents, either for his pleasure or just to get rid of them... Michael hadn't been able to locate him as of yet, as the man was almost constantly on the move, moving through hidden passages around both the palace and various villas around the city, did he know that Michael was coming for him? If Michael had to guess, probably.
Still, his plans continued unabated, which is why he was now slowly sneaking along the top of an aqueduct towards the military academy and barracks with a wet sack filled with half-rotten pufferfish livers.
The livers of course had been thoroughly mulched to make sure they mixed with the reservoir water well enough. Tomorrow was Prince Wales execution, so hopefully, the poison would cripple enough of the guards to allow him to strike at Baron Jargkon without anything impeding him. Plus, he supposed it would also help the loyalists rescue Prince Wales.
Michael shakes his head and continues sneaking over the roof of the aqueduct like a shadow in the night, his form completely invisible with the help of Cloak and Dagger, as well as Shadow Dance.
Soon enough, he reaches a perch overlooking the barracks reservoir, and so he waits. It was currently around 10 PM, but with a few guards still milling around, he wanted to make sure his fouling of their water went off unnoticed.
An hour and a half pass by when he finally spots his opportunity, quickly dumping the disgusting sack of mulched organs into the reservoir.
*Sploosh!*
The red and grey chunks easily fall into the water, some floating on the top, while overs sink to the bottom. But all almost immediately begin dissolving. The livers had been thoroughly cleaned before being mulched, so there wasn't much blood to discolour the water, only leaving the small insoluble chunks and the trace amounts of fluids that accompanied them as the only evidence.
Michael grins at his success and quickly sneaks away, the poison would affect whoever drank it in a few hours, and since Prince Wales execution would be happening late in the morning, a large portion of the barracks and military academy would be sick or dead by the time things started getting chaotic.
"Let's see how you deal with this, Cromwell."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Early in the morning the next day, Michael and Tiffania were quickly getting ready for today's event... Well, at least, Michael was quickly getting ready. Tiffania herself was so nervous that she was struggling to pick out practical clothes for the job, not to mention actually putting them on with her clumsy hands.
Again, she'd refused to wait behind while Michael did all the work, not that doing so was really an option today... Michael was sure the whole city would break into riots, not just from the prison break they were about to start, but also because of the lack of guards, loyalists, and maybe even those mind-controlled citizens. Truly, Michael didn't have a fucking clue what was going to happen, so it was best to keep Tiffania close so he could protect her.
"Tiffania, just calm down... Everything will be fine, trust me. I haven't been spending the last four days doing nothing, so all we can do now is hope that things work out in our favour. Worrying about it isn't going to help." he says, patting her on the back and shoving the most heavily padded clothes she has available into her arms. "Now get ready, we're leaving as you're dressed."
The duo leaves the slums after Michael stores everything into his inventory, and they immediately head towards the prison. From Michael's memory and planning, the easiest place to strike was surprisingly the front doors of the prison. This was because every other entrance was barred with thick stone and heavy metal, making it impossible to breach unless you've got some heavy artillery accompanying you.
The front entrance however was designed more to keep the prisoners in, than intruders out. The thick, metal-reinforced wooden doors would prove enough to keep a small army out... If they were locked.
Obviously, the place had been on heavy alert as Prince Wales was to be executed soon. Fortunately, the lack of guards meant that patrols were smaller and further apart than usual, which would allow Michael and Tiffania to slip inside fairly easy.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross
Niggross
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
Kingsprovince
JayJonnaJamison
Jack Allen
Faruk Ereng
Nathaniel Clayton
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment