The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

Noble nearly spat her tea. She forced herself to swallow. "What?"

"Who… is… Flint?" Syrce repeated slowly.

The floating lady shot a glance at the man beside her and felt suddenly dizzy.

Was it the question or the tea that had her mind in a knot?

"Flint?" Noble set down her cup.

Her head was swimming. It was worse than the vision she had in the Wonder Woods.

"Oh my! Finish the tea, dear Bel. You won't feel right until you do." Syrce furrowed her brow.

'She..she's telling the truth.'

Despite her instinct to throw the tea far away, Noble complied.

'So…bitter…'

The last drop entered her mouth. The cup rattled in her hand. Swallowing, Noble saw bursts of color flood her vision.

Seeing her distress, Flint caught her arm. "Are you alright?"

"I'm…surprisingly fine." Noble blinked.

The damage done by her fall from the sky was gone, erased as if it never existed.

Syrce laughed. "I told you the tea would help. Your cheeks are gaining color already."

"You didn't warn me about the side effect." Noble studied the Saint carefully.

Had she been trying to catch her off guard on purpose?

Syrce pursed her lips. "Side effect? Oh! You must mean the teacup. It enhances the properties of what's inside. I didn't think about your body being weaker! All that healing must have been disorienting!"

'Disorienting is one way to put it…'

The floating Master inhaled deeply through her nose. At least she felt better now.

"An enchanted teacup?" Noble studied the saucer with more interest than before. It's silver filigree pulsed coolly in her palm.

"One of the many things we found in Imagination's treasure trove up north. I kept that one for my personal use."

The Daemon of Imagination had a treasure trove?

That was news! If it was raided by this party in the distant past, then the items had likely all been lost to time.

Still, it was an area of information worth exploring.

Unfortunately, Syrce hadn't lost sight of her original question. She turned to her third-in-command, her smile fading.

"Who is Flint? Is she a mutual friend of yours?"

Noble should have guessed that the Saint would overhear. Transcendent hearing was truly inhuman. But even with all her advantages, she must have only caught a few words before Orrin required her attention.

Noble wanted to kick herself for not thinking about the possibility.

"She?!" The man's voice cracked. "SHE?! Surely you cannot mistake me for a female!"

Noble sent a wave of calm to her uppity companion.

"What Titus is trying to say is that I call him Flint. His fiery personality makes him a bit of a tinderbox."

Flint was less than amused, but he was smart enough not to argue. "She calls me Flint, and I call her Blondie." He smiled wickedly. "You know, because of her effervescent personality."

'Great, now they both are calling me stupid.'

Syrce laughed, "Such clever names! My sisters and I simply called each other 'Sister.' Now I think we might have missed out on a grand opportunity! What name would you give me?"

Flint opened his mouth, but Noble covertly elbowed him.

"Ouch! There is no need for violence, Lady Blondie." His stilted tone made the name sound particularly formal. "If you want to give her a name, you certainly may. I was going to say that nicknames are a very personal thing that takes time. Giving one without thought would be unwise."

'Liar…' Noble wanted to stick out her tongue at the man. 'That was not what he was going to say.'

He hadn't put any thought into calling her Blondie beyond the color of her hair!

Flint was trying to make her look foolish. Well, the joke was on him. Syrce already thought her friend was empty-headed.

'Wait, that's not a good argument!'

Noble cleared her throat.

"I am sure I can come up with a name eventually. For now, I am more interested in this trove you mentioned. Was that part of your mission to save humanity?"

Flint raised one eyebrow. He hadn't been told why the convoy was traveling.

As third-in-command, it was something he needed to know.

The Saint hummed softly. "Until recently, no one dared go looking for anything belonging to Imagination. But we are desperate. So I took these people and Titus to the mountains.

"A Green One had been hoarding the treasure. We tried to tame it. When it attacked, we were forced to kill it. We lost many of our troops to the creature, but we were victorious. The things we found there were not meant for human eyes…or ears. Isn't that right?"

"We did find some very unique things, My Lady," Orrin answered, startling Syrce.

"I hadn't seen you approach! I was too engulfed in my story." The Saint waved for the Shieldbearer to sit, but he sent a questioning look at Flint instead.

"Forgive me, My Lady. I should have announced my presence. I was just surprised to see Titus. I would have thought he would be making his rounds."

"I invited him to join us, just like I am inviting you." Syrce nodded.

Orrin sat down with the others. "I suppose there should be some reward for watching our rear. Cook must have given you quite the hard time." The Shieldbearer smiled knowingly.

Syrce tapped him on the shoulder. "We won't gossip about Titus's love life—at least not in front of him! Anyway, I have found out something far more interesting! It seems our third in command is an old friend of Bel's. They even have cute names for each other."

Orrin scratched his bearded chin.

"A friend of Lady Bel's? That is news. How come you did not tell us sooner?"

Flint frowned. "Well, I couldn't leave the rear to tell you, could I?"

"Such dedication to duty!" Syrce clapped. "That is why the men follow your valiant lead in battle."

"Though I wish you had taken a dip in the river before you subjected these ladies to your ripe smell." Orrin touched his nose gently.

"You know I can't reach the river," Flint objected.

"No, Titus…I don't think they do." Noble could feel their emotions and see their befuddled faces.

Flint was chained to the back of the caravan like a prisoner, but he was regarded well enough by the others to be third in charge over the large group.

Something didn't add up.

She glanced down at her hands, hoping to find the answers at the bottom of her empty teacup. The silvery filigree shone like thousands of tiny mirrors.

'It looks just like…'

"Lady Syrce, you said you found many items in the mountains. Did you keep everything you discovered?"

The mossy-haired Saint felt her gaze become far off. She touched the starstone pendant around her neck.

"We recovered the most valuable things and brought them with us. Most are stored in the carts, but a few things, like the cup, were used right away."

Noble nodded. The group needed to use their available resources.

"Is Titus's belt one of those relics you found?"

Orrin looked at the leather wrapped around his subordinate's waist.

"You mean the tether? Yes, it is, Lady Bel. Why do you ask?"

Noble and Flint exchanged glances, coming to the same conclusion.

Syrce and Orrin hadn't chained Titus to the caravan.

The Daemon of Imagination had.