Chapter 243 - Delaying Tactics (NEW)

Author Note 2/27/25: You may notice the chapter numbering has changed. I originally wanted to put an Interlude at this point in the story, but then decided there wasn’t enough content for a full chapter, since I wanted the contents of “The Dark Descent” to be from Siobhan’s POV.

But I decided to go ahead and add it after some more time to think. I have also added well over a thousand words combined to chapters 241, 242, and the newly re-numbered chapter 244. This has helped to address some criticism from readers that I agreed with. Thank you to everyone who so kindly supports this story and my writing. :)

If you want to re-read, the relevant stuff is mostly in 242, 243 (this chapter), and 244. I have updated the Patreon since these are recent releases.

Since this new chapter 243 is quite short, I will also be releasing chapter 246 tomorrow, to continue with the story from where we left it.

This puts Patreon 6 chapters ahead with exclusive content.

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Thaddeus

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 3:30 a.m.

Thaddeus jogged in the general direction that Siobhan had flitted, his mind replaying the strangely stunning sight of her almost completely swallowed in darkness. Whatever magic she had worked made her inhumanly fast, and though he could cast several spells to increase his speed in various ways, she had been gone so quickly that he could not be sure which turn she had taken at the next intersection.

To be truthful, he was not entirely certain that he should be following her, and not the dense cloud of ravens she had sent streaming into the small hole at the other side of the cavern. Were they a decoy, or the preparation for some nasty surprise? Siobhan always seemed to think three or four moves ahead, and though Thaddeus prided himself on his intelligence and deductive reasoning, he did not know enough about the range of her capabilities.

His left ear tickled, and he flinched, slamming his fingers against it in an instinctive attempt to shelter it from attack. However, he felt no pain or sense of invasion, and when he drew his fingers away, they were wet with a smear of dark, thick blood.

With a grimace, Thaddeus cast a spell to cleanse himself from head to toe. His small wound from her attack earlier was already healed, but a phantom ache remained.

Siobhan had not even managed to destroy his eardrum with her icepick to the side of the head, but the attack had been effective, nevertheless. Extreme vertigo was a particularly useful attack against rival thaumaturges, because it was difficult to control the Will past the disorientation. 

He had been, embarrassingly, taken off guard. She had not even had a Conduit in her hand, and he had not noted the ring that she must have used to cast, despite being the one to give it to her. It was so small, compared to his own Conduit, and compared to the kind of capacity she had displayed. That amount of celerium was only useful for a low-level Master…and, admittedly, emergencies. Out of all people, Thaddeus, who perhaps knew more about her than anyone else in the city, should not have underestimated her like that.

She had run, and Thaddeus had managed to cast a healing spell on himself after a bit of fumbling around.

She had continued to use that Conduit throughout the entirety of their fight, controlling it through the back of her finger despite the increased difficulty. Did she not have any better options, or did she simply prefer to keep her hands free for more mundane attacks?

Fighting her had been nothing like he had expected. 

Thaddeus had listened to the reports and even watched the memories of people who had gone up against her, but he had expected that when faced with someone of his power, she would fight more—well, more like him. 

Instead, she had made strange, unconventional choices that left him off-balance and confused.

He suspected she had been utilizing her ability to dual-cast more than was obvious, though at least one of her spells always seemed to be something weak and simple, again using that spell rod that Sebastien had developed. He had long deduced that dual-casting came with more limitations than she advertised. If she were able to simultaneously free-cast two powerful spells, he might have lost their contest. 

Or, perhaps she simply knew that her own strength was less than his and judged that the only way to win was through the advantage of versatility that her abilities granted.

What was the point of the battle potions? And the rock? Surely she did not think they would work against him. Was it some sort of test to gauge exactly how his shield worked, to set him up for a later surprise?

More likely, she had been trying to buy time for some reason, keeping him busy without hurting him.

Thaddeus rolled his shoulders against the unpleasant, prickling tension the thought brought. If not for the armor, he might have rubbed at his face. It was true, they had been fighting, nominally, but nothing she had done would be lethal against someone like him. Instead of trying to kill him, or even simply incapacitate him when he was temporarily off-kilter from the spike of bitter cold to his eardrum, she had simply run away.

And then, when it seemed she could not stop him without hurting him, she had pleaded with him. He had never even considered such a possibility. Siobhan Naught, the Raven Queen, was not the type to beg. Against an enemy, no matter how much stronger than her they might be, she would go down fighting like a dragon until the last spark of light left her eyes.

Did she not consider Thaddeus an enemy, even now?

If not for his vows… Thaddeus squeezed down on his Conduit so hard that he feared something might break. The laughably, tragically ironic part of it all was that he did not even know why they required this.

He could guess, of course, and he had.

The tragic truth was that the Red Guard was failing, on multiple fronts, and most of those who might have been able to do something about it were either too blind or too prideful to admit it. They sanctioned and punished him, but really, they feared that he might succeed where they could not.

He had considered and discarded the idea before, but perhaps Siobhan would be the type of person to appreciate his research. She likely even had deep knowledge and insights into areas that he had not yet had the time or inclination to explore.

For instance, the way she had severed a spell from his control. If he had been a lesser thaumaturge, slower to reel in his Will, she might have forced an accident. Severing magic that worked on other magic was a rare skill to start with. He had never met anyone who could sever the Will of a caster from a detached spell.

At any other time, in any other situation, Thaddeus would have spent some time theorizing about this ability and attempting to develop his own severing spell to do this. As evidenced, it would be useful against other extremely high-level thaumaturges. Instead, he stopped for a moment, taking deep breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth, and cast a gentle spell to speed his recovery. He had been trying to distract himself, to chase her ineffectively for a moment, but the vow would not allow him to continue when he could do better.

He tried a few divination spells, just in case, but of course, found nothing. He thought back to his tests on Sebastien’s bestowed version of this ability. If it was the same kind of magic, only weaker, that suggested that its one great weakness was that it could be overwhelmed by sheer application of power.

Thaddeus considered attempting to pit his strength directly against Siobhan’s, despite the disadvantage that the stone and distance between them would put him at. She was powerful, but he had no reason to believe she was noticeably more powerful than him. Before he could attempt it, he froze with a sudden realization. “She has been tricking me,” he said aloud.

He turned around, and rather than take the same route back through the winding halls, he cast his earth-tunneling spell to sprint back in a straight line. His armor melted around him and the pieces clattered to the floor behind him, but it was only a minor loss, as he could re-form it with a few seconds of effort and a beast core, of which he still had several remaining. He moved quickly, pausing several times to breathe and recover when he exited into hallways or small caves. If he ran out of breath while halfway through the stone, it would be quite a hassle to drop the earth-tunneling spell without harming himself and transmute stone into air while entombed. The return cost him another beast core, and he was glad to be so well prepared.

Thaddeus aimed to arrive at the side of the cavern on a small ledge he vaguely remembered, which should allow him to overlook the room, while potentially avoiding triggering any alarms or other forms of observation. His aim was accurate, but the ledge was occupied.

He almost tripped over Siobhan’s prone form and managed to school his expression of surprise only a fraction of a second before she turned and met his gaze. He did not want to show weakness or admit that she had outmaneuvered him mentally. He had thought he might find some clues, or even, potentially, her having fortified the cavern or taken the time to set up some spell too powerful to free-cast. But there was no sign of that. Why was she still here?

Weekly discussion thread on the Alcove: https://alcove.azaleaellis.com/t/chapter-243-discussion-delaying-tactics/611