The Dark Fairy King
Chapter 62: Plan Before Showdown

Chapter 62: Plan Before Showdown

But then Devran surprised me.

"Hey, do you want to hold on to the orb?" he asked.

"What?" I blurted in shock.

"Oh, come on, Veravos..." he sighed. "You don’t trust me. So this is me acting first."

Was he serious?

My jaw dropped as I mustered a fake cough.

"So we have the weapon to trap the Anti-Magic Mages..." I started. "The prison orb by Devran."

"And the Midnight Orchids by Devran," Devran interrupted. "And really nothing from Lumera."

Lumera scoffed. "I have my powers and a personal vendetta. Enough to bring to the table?"

I laughed.

"And we have a team ready to combat the Anti-Magic Mages," Scarlette defended.

Devran and Lumera looked at each other skeptically. Because were we really a team?

We were more like a highly dysfunctional band of misfits placed together by circumstance. Though I found them oddly endearing. I mean aside from the fact that Devran could very well use his prison orb to trap us. But I put my skepticism aside and went on.

"And we have the darn letter to Faragonda, asking her to rally the troops from the palace and bring the remaining Midnight Orchids she procured," I continued.

"Faragonda?" Lumera asked, suddenly confused. "But Faragonda is dead, isn’t she?"

"Lums..." Devran sighed. "If we’re going to work on the same plan, you actually have to remember the details."

Lumera looked away, embarrassed.

"It’s fine," I sighed. "It has been a long day anyway."

"It’s okay, Lumera," Scarlette assured. "This is where you actually need to weigh in with illusion magic. For us to pretend to be Faragonda. That’s why we don’t have a Love Fairy joining the council. The world thinks Faragonda is alive, and apparently so do the mages. You follow?"

Lumera nodded like a studious school kid. But really, I was skeptical of how much that blond flashlight actually remembered.

"Speaking of being on the same page," I said skeptically, "let me read the letter again."

"You know? The letter we received in the dining hall?" Devran said impatiently as I crinkled the paper.

"Devran..." I mocked. "Careful, you’re starting to sound a lot like Lumera when we first met her."

Devran turned beet red.

"They say mimicry is the best form of flattery," I added.

Lumera grinned and Devran frowned.

"Go on, read it again," Scarlette reminded.

I stepped beside her and read aloud:

Dear Faragonda,

Rally the Anti-Magic Mages from the palace—the ones King Veravos has yet to uncover. Bring the new recruits as well.

Tomorrow at dusk, we gather once more at the cathedral by the kingdom’s border.

Bring the remaining Midnight Orchids you’ve procured. They will be essential for the ceremony.

Your Leader,

Nathaniel.

"On that note, how many Midnight Orchids are we gifting them?" I grinned.

"Just one," Devran shrugged. "That stall in the marketplace had already closed down anyway."

"What do we do with the rest?" Scarlette asked.

"Keep them, burn them? I don’t know," I replied. "But sure, we can always hand them one. See what they really want with it."

"But how are we going to stop them?" Lumera asked. "What’s the grand plan?"

Scarlette looked at me too.

"Fine." I sighed. "Here’s what I think."

The trio looked at me, focused.

"The ceremony looks important," I started. "More importantly, most of the Anti-Magic Mages will be there. So we’ll disguise ourselves as Anti-Magic Mages and enter the scene.

Lumera, your role is to disguise Scarlette as Faragonda. Scarlette is the best person to pretend to be Faragonda because she’s a Love Fairy too."

"Wait..." Devran asked. "All four of us are going?"

"Yes," I replied. "There’s no telling who else is a spy in our palace, and I can’t risk any of us being attacked while the others are there."

"Careful, my King," Devran smirked. "I might be starting to think you care about me or are you just keeping me close because you are still suspicious of me?."

"This mission can’t go wrong." I replied. "I hate loose ends."

"The most dangerous place is the safest place, it seems," Scarlette added. "Go on, Ver."

"But... I can’t master illusion spells," Lumera protested.

"Well Lumera, I’ll teach you," Scarlette confidently replied. "But it’s not easy to master, so I would prefer you to be at close range. It will be easier to navigate."

"Lumera had one lesson, and suddenly she’s ready?" Devran scoffed. "We are going to fail."

"No, she won’t," Scarlette insisted. "I will bind my magic to hers if she fails."

"I’m not going to argue with the Architect of Magic, but I hope you know what you’re doing, my Queen," Devran replied.

"I wonder if there will be Anti-Magic Sigils all around during the ceremony..." I asked.

"Good question," Devran replied, deep in thought. "But I believe there will be pockets of spaces where magic can be used. Otherwise, how will the Midnight Orchid work with no magic?"

"Good point," Scarlette replied. "Or it could be artificially enhanced with whatever warped magic the mages are using."

"Well... the other part of the disguise will be easy. We can all get tattoos of broken sigils and follow pseudo-Faragonda," I replied, pointing at Scarlette. "Her."

"Looks like we’ll be the Anti-Magic Mages from the palace then," Devran replied. "Unless the real ones expose us."

"Ah... but if they do, we’ll simply expose them as the traitors," I mocked.

"Well, I don’t know whether this is going to work or why you guys seem to have so much faith in my abilities, but I’ll trust you all," Lumera said.

Devran crossed his arms. "You really shouldn’t."

"Thanks for the support," Lumera huffed.

"Just being realistic."

Scarlette gave them both a knowing look. "You two are more alike than you think."

"Never!" they both chorused, glaring at each other.

"I would rather eat my boots," Lumera muttered.

"I would rather hug a sleeping kitsune," Devran shot back.

"Really?" I laughed, "It has to take a lot out of you to say that considering how terrified you were of Juniper." I replied mockingly. "But Juniper would mind being hugged by you. Too slippery."

Devran frowned.

I smiled but felt the weight settle in my chest.

Was I pulling all of them into something we wouldn’t crawl out from this time? Was I about to lose what little I managed to keep?

But if so—

"Well, then let it," I replied, brushing the thought aside. "We shall unleash chaos until the sun goes down and when the eclipse is up."

"I hope we get there," Devran replied. "I’ll know what to do then. I’ve waited for this moment."

"What if it doesn’t work? What if nothing goes to plan?" Lumera asked, worried.

"Well, if nothing goes to plan, throw the rules out of the window, survive, unleash chaos with no restraint," Scarlette chuckled. "My specialty."

Yup.

She’s got that part mastered.