Chapter Seventy Two: The Allies Promise

Raven, knowing full well that she would be discovered by Aurora at the very least, decided to follow through with her disguise and offered this disguise to both Penny and Ember. Whilst Penny seemed rather overjoyed to experience this level of deception magic that her mother had conjured so effortlessly, Ember seemed far more hesitant.

" I am not going to disguise myself" Ember answered sternly. Raven and Penny were not going to argue with her on this despite the fact that it could comprimise the mission and as they made their way to the castle, Ember stopped by a clothing stand and managed to steal a large coat which she put on in quick fashion, covering her body completely. Penny laughed at the sheer ridiculous sight.

" Yes..because that won't bring attention to you at all.." She continued laughing though Penny did not seem amused.

" I am disguising myself for initial entry. I'm not going in expecting not to fight regardless so I'm not going to overdo it" Ember growled back, which made Penny laugh even louder. " Okay, so this is your idea of not over doing it? You look like a bi-pedel caterpillar" her jokes did not seem to phase Ember however, who continued walking towards the castle.

Raven walked beside Penny, keeping pace with her as she waved her hand in front of Penny, and just as before, Penny's appearance began to change into the form of another woman, a peasant, who could be completely inconspicuous.

As they approached the castle gates, they find themselves confronted by two guards who seemed to be more than displeased at the sight of them.

" What is your business here? " One guard asked in an arrogant tone.

" We were asked to come to the castle to help prepare for the ceremony at the behest of the King and Queen" Raven answered quickly and firmly so that she could hopefully convince a truth behind her lie.

" The ceremony is not to be tampered with by the commonfolk, the King and Queen would not have asked this" The other guard explained as they both became more defensive over entrance to the gate.

" Then perhaps it is good that we did not come to tamper, only to aid in the preparation which again, was at the request of the King and Queen, the Queen more specifically" Penny chimmed in, though the guards seemed unshaken by the lies.

" You are not going to come in. To not state the truth behind your intentions, shows a sign of malice and thus you will not be permitted to enter the - " as the guard demmanded their exit, Ember stepped forward and within an instant, dispatched the guards with two extremely quick punches to the throats of the guards who collapsed upon the ground, gasping for air.

Raven and Penny looked shocked to one another as they turned their attention back to Ember who proceeded to walk forward into the castle.

" Well we could have done that.." Penny grumbled as she and Raven made their way inside as well.

Once inside, they found a massive array of people who all seemed to be preoccupied with decorations and chattering with one another. This would make it far easier to maneuver through the palace undetected.

And as they did so, they discovered that getting below the castle would be a bit more difficult than they had originally anticipated.

" I know of ways to get to the dungeon but there is nothing down there that would be able to help us..based on what the Elder said..it seems like we would need to go far deeper than that" Raven knew the palace rather well from her time of working within it. But, she had never seen any location that would allow them to travel further below it which made sense to her if the Royal family was trying to hide something.

" Follow Me" Ember requested as she made her way through the crowd, leading the trio down a long hallway, eventually coming to a stop in front of rather inconspicuous wall, with a torch beside it. It matched every other wall, and so the reason for their stop, puzzled Raven and Penny.

But as though she could hear their concerned thoughts, Ember reaches up to one torch and pulls it down, which, after the unpleasurable sound of stone scraping against stone, a passageway is revealed to them.

" Wait...wait.." Penny stood in front of the passageway, deciding to finally speak out on all the strange coincidences that Ember had been presenting recently.

" How the hell did you know where this was? And how did you know how to access it? "

Raven nodded in agreement " I would like the answer to this as well" Raven stood side by side with Penny, blocking the Entrance.

Ember scoffed at their questions and accusation as though this was an inconvenience to her. " If you must know, it is because I have had visions of it. I see things now, and that is how I knew how to find this place. And before you ask, no, I don't know how to explain the visions nor do i know how to stop them. And no, im not curious about how i got them, because at the end of the day, if it can help us, then that is what matters. Now, can we please stop wasting time? " Ember tried her best to disregard their concerns but Penny and Raven would not allow for this.

" No, that's a crap answer and you know it " Penny argued.

" You know far more than you are letting on, and you have hid it from us. And yes, that is your right...but not if it's going to endanger us. You've attacked us before. You've made threats before. And we are sick of the damn attitude. We are allies. We are friends. And despite what you think of us, we are all in this together and we have to work together and it would be appreciated if you could get off your bullshit, just for a damn second, so we could maybe work together" Penny was growing increasingly more frustrated as she ranted.

" So me showing the way downstairs is not considered, helping? " Ember questioned.

" Its not considered helping when we are the in the damn home of an enemy, and you just so happen to know things about the palace that even Raven doesnt, who worked here for a long time. What if your vision is leading us into a trap? " Penny added which now Enraged Ember.

" Oh because my abilities are somehow far less accurate than yours? " Ember barked to which Penny replied

" Considering you just got them and considering you are acting completely different than you use to..yeah..yeah I would say so"

" Different how? Different because you don't understand abilities that have now come out? Different because you kissed me and I wasn't receptive to it? Different because maybe instead of having a damn play date with your mother, I actually did what I needed to do, to get things done? " Ember's voice was slowly rising and yet had drawn no attention from the public.

" How about instead of acting like the damn Witch and magic expert, you start acting like the person you are. A selfish asshole, who came here under the guise of saving a world, but in reality, came here to save your damn mother" Ember's words struck like a sword into the heart of Penny.

" And how about instead of challenging me all the damn time, treating me like a loose Canon. We start treating me like the person I actually am. Someone that could wreck the both of you in an instant but has chosen not too because I am putting the mission above the stupid petty bullshit that you both wanna throw at me. Guess what? You can't be in control of things, and you damn sure can't control me" and with that, Ember pushed Raven and Penny aside and made her way down stairs, as Penny and Raven took a moment to recollect themselves.

Speechless at what they had just endured, Penny and Raven made their way downstairs, keeping Ember in their line of sight as best as they could but also maintaining their distance. They needed to keep a close eye on her but also to be careful in case this were to be a trap. Penny couldn't help but doubt alot of Embers motive which bothered her internally.

Ember was her friend, and surely would not turn on her. Aurora could not have gotten to Ember considering how headstrong she had always been and yet, this was a different Ember so perhaps..she could have gotten to this version, Penny wasn't sure.

All that she knew was, if Ember had betrayed them, they would have to do something about her. She had known far too much about what they needed to accomplish and that could stand in their way.

" God..how can I even be thinking this.." Penny thought to herself. " It doesn't matter what is going on between her and I right now..there is no reason to doubt her as much as I have been. It's not fair.."

One thing was certain, this was going to not end well.