Beauty X Beast ~ Thirty-Eight!

Henri coughed from the light smoke as he tried to stand to his full height, only for his legs to buckle. A glance down revealed that his prosthetic leg was bubbling and melting, a white-hot line drawn across it as perfectly as if it’d been done with a quill and protractor. “By the system, I haven't seen magic used like that since the last battle for the independence of…! What was that light?”

“Radiance.” Danielle looked over her father, noting that even the reflection of the light had caused blisters to spring up across his body. A deep well of anger was building in her as she looked at the man who’d taken care of her for her entire life and even now was protecting her. “Do you know how I know? Because someone attacked Gasteel’s men recently, the conscripts and such. There was a Radiance Mage who killed off a huge swath of them.”

“You don't mean to say—blast it!” Henri winced as Danielle waved her hand over his scorched skin, leaving behind an area which didn't look nearly as rough, though it hadn't been healed. “At least the pain is in nice, neat lines now, instead of just generally… everywhere. Ugh. Do you mean Gasteel attacked his own men? Why would he do that?”

“I think he was trying to draw me out.” Danielle chose her words carefully as she watched her father's skin lay itself flat where it had been blistering in fouled disorder. “Me or the Comte. Either way, it would’ve been a win for him, but to so casually sacrifice his men?”

“I'd ask if you were certain, but this is a type of spellcaster you don't encounter randomly. If they want training or instruction, they will almost always need to swear an oath to their kingdom early on, when they’re first discovered.” Henri was still speaking quietly, his eyes now trying to pierce the acrid smoke beginning to fill the library. “It's time to go. If I wasn't certain before, I am now. The manor is burning down around us. ” 

Another brilliant flash seared through the hallway, the magic proving itself to be from a different source, as it was followed by a wall-shaking explosion. The force of the blast sent a wave of hot air rushing into the doors of the library, slamming them open and nearly taking them off their hinges. Books rained from shelves, and the duo were sent stumbling as rapidly moving shapes rushed past the opening. 

“Charge!” Gasteel’s voice passed by quickly. The father-daughter duo hunkered down, peeking between books on the lowest shelf to see what was happening. “Get a shield wall set up around that opening! It doesn't matter how many there are if they can't get up here! Gasteel Company!”

“Gasteel Company!” The return shout came from dozens of voices as men rushed to fulfill the baron's orders. 

“Let's get into the passage, at the very least,” Danielle whispered urgently to her father. “We can wait for the Comte there and be ready to run.”

“Good plan!” Henri nodded, his face set with determination as they began scooting across the floor. Here the shifting smoke played in their favor, offering cover and disguising their movements. 

Each time they came to some burning debris, Danielle carefully swept it closer to the door, building up their smoke screen further. The fifth time she did so, she sucked in a sharp breath as her hand swiped across a shard of glass, opening a shallow but wide cut on her palm. Barely managing to stop herself from cursing out loud, she followed her father to the passage—only to go cold as a voice rang out behind her.

“Secure these rooms! Someone get those fires out; there's valuable information being lost every second we waste!” The Enchantress looked out into the hall, which had cleared enough for her to see a scene of utter devastation. Automatons lay in slag heaps, the few who remained unmelted having been shattered and scattered by the second magical strike. An armored man was in the doorway, luckily looking outward as he ordered other people to start moving through the space.

“If we can see him, he can see us, if he but looks. Go,” Henri whispered into her ear, startling Danielle into motion once more. They scuttled around a fallen bookshelf, remaining low to the ground, both to avoid the searching soldiers, as well as to stay under the thickening smoke. “Where’s the Comte? Time is not in our favor at this moment.”

“I don't know!” Danielle quietly hissed back her reply, her eyes on the doorway as a dozen men hurried into the now-open room. For a moment, she thought about making a run for the passageway she knew would bring her back to the dining room, but she bit her lip as her eyes darted to her father's leg. Shaking her head, she murmured under her breath, “No… there's no way we can move fast enough.”

Deciding to get her father to safety before trying to make any moves of her own, Danielle followed closely behind Henri as he led them to… “Father, do you know where the entrance to the escape tunnel is?”

“What?” Henri looked back at her, the pupils in his eyes practically vibrating from the intensity of his stare. “I thought you were showing me where to go!”

“Then why are you leading? You came out of it; I thought you’d know how to get back in!” Danielle’s frantic words received no reply. Instead, her father stopped looking at her, his gaze trailing up, and his eyes going blank. 

She turned her head, a pair of boots coming to a stop next to her capturing all of her attention. Ever so slowly, trying to draw in breath around the sudden vacuum in her lungs, Danielle looked up, and up…

With the most false smile on her lips that she’d ever before forced into position, Danielle spoke in a weak, conversational tone. “Le-froupe. He~ey… come here often?”

The scribe stared down at her, curiosity and apprehension battling on his face as he lifted the dagger he was gripping tightly. “Madame… why are you in here?”

“We're trying to escape, Lefroupe.” Danielle kept her voice steady, though she wasn't sure how she managed. “Please don't give us away. This isn't the life I want to live, and… and… how’d you find us?”

The scribe pointed the tip of his blade at Danielle's hand. “There was a blood trail leading right to you. You’re… you’re injured? That's not good. You're not supposed to get hurt. Gasteel will literally tear someone apart for this.”

At that moment, the baron in question rushed past the door of the library, sword held high as he bellowed furiously, “Where are they? Find them! Rip this place apart if you need to!”

“He was going to kill my father, Lefroupe.” Danielle poured every iota of willpower she had into getting all of her skills working on her behalf in every possible way. “Please.”

 Her head tilted back, her eyes littered with unshed tears, but… it was only as Lefroupe watched the slow drip of blood from her hand that his hard, indecisive eyes shifted to tender understanding. 

“I was sent in here to grab valuable texts and rescue knowledge before it was lost forever.” Lefroupe stepped back and glanced away, his voice dropping further as his lips trembled. “I have my orders, and I'm going to follow them. When I come around this way again… that's when I'll need to decide if I was telling myself a story about being the hero who found Gasteel’s fiance and turned her over. Maybe there were just a couple books laying here that I got a little too excited about?”

“Thank you, Lefroupe,” Danielle whispered softly as he started to turn around. “I'll never forget that you were kind to me.”

The scribe froze in place, and for a moment, the Enchantress worried she’d said something wrong. Then he backed up a step and another, revealing the sword pressed to his chest. A moment later, the Comte came into view, a half-dozen metal soldiers flanking him. The Artificer’s scowl fell away as he took in Danielle and Henri’s state, flickering to relief, then to an unreadable expression as he returned his attention to Lefroupe. 

“Your life for your silence.” The Comte stepped closer to the prone duo, pulling them to their feet. “Just stay quiet, and you'll make it through this.”

Lefroupe swallowed hard, watching as the Artificer helped Danielle pull her father to his feet. Henri started moving once more, but Danielle—holding the crate with a heart in a jar—stayed a moment longer to look into the scribe's eyes, mouthing the words ‘thank you’ one last time before she started backing away, following her father around yet another shelf. 

The metal soldiers broke off to follow her, and she paused to make sure nothing happened to the scribe who had just saved her life. Kota leaned in, his words just loud enough for her to make out. “Do you want a better life than this, Lefroupe? You can come with us. I know someone like you wouldn't have signed a bad contract.”

“I have a future here,” Lefroupe answered numbly, blinking in surprise at the sudden offer. “Gasteel’s star is on the rise, no matter what you say.”

“You think Gasteel…?” The Artificer shook his head and stepped back, slowly following after Danielle. “I guess you've made your choice, then. You could have done something better. Instead, you'll always be the lackey to a terrible man. I don't understand it, Lefroupe. From what Danielle's told me, you're nothing like him.”

“I’m…?” Lefroupe’s face twisted with anger, his pale face flushing as he rapidly blinked. “I am like him! I'm talented! Smart! Celestial feces, I'm strong! By the system, what am I doing? No one holds a grudge like Gasteel, no one's fury is hotter than the sun like Gasteel!”

The more he spoke, the louder the man got, and just as Danielle stepped forward to try and calm him, his gaze snapped to her like a chameleon who had just seen a particularly delicious bug. “You ensorcelled me! No! I’m a loyal man, and I will never betray…”

“Gaste~eel!” 

He shouted the final word at the top of his voice, turning and sprinting for the entrance to the library as if the Comte were about to silence him with a sword thrust. 

Kota was, so it was an apt decision on Lefroupe’s part.

“The Artificer! The Enchantress! The Tinkerer! All of them are in the library with the metal men!” Lefroupe was sobbing as he screamed and ran. “Gastee~eel!”

“Well, that's not good,” Kota murmured as he sheathed his sword and jogged around the bookshelf, meeting Danielle's angry glare with a sheepish shrug. “I have no idea what I said to set him off like that.”

She could only shake her head and wait as he started pulling on books in sequence. In the distance, she heard the baron roar with excitement over his targets having been found. Footsteps pounded toward the library, and the Comte was sweating furiously as he quickly swiped the last book out of the way, and a thick cloud of dust burst from a nearby bookshelf.

The passageway creeped open, years of disuse and poor maintenance making it a heart-poundingly slow process. Henri all but shoved Danielle into the opening as soon as she would fit, but she twisted out of his grasp and pulled him in after her. “Kota! Get in here and close the door!”

“It's not time yet, Danielle!” Henri growled at her, trying to slip away from her in return. “It's not believable yet, I need to-”

“Comte LeKrout!” Gasteel’s howl whipped through the library. “I demand that you get over here right this instant!”

The passageway was still shifting open, but now none of the trio were moving. Henri and Danielle stared at the Artificer in horror, and the man himself simply let out a sigh of frustration and nodded at them. “Go… I'll catch up.”

“To the abyss with that idea!” Danielle snarled at the man, reaching out for his arm, only for her father to grab her wrist. “Let me go! I'm not going to let him sacrifice himself so we have a few more minutes to run. Don't make me hurt you.”

“Be reasonable-” was all Henri got out before Danielle twisted, sweeping his false leg out from under him and sending him to the floor. 

“I’m so sorry, and I love you, but you can’t tell me what to do.” Danielle held him as he fell to make sure he didn't hit the ground too hard, then gave her struggling father a quick kiss on the forehead before chasing after the Artificer. “I'll be right back, I promise!”

“Danielle!”