The Fourth Musketeer

"Character counts most when duty calls."

It was no coincidence that Serilda had found herself in the foreign nation of Minstrel, holding audience with the general of the Musketeers. One of their most influential nobles had been victim to an invasion by dark wizards from Fiore, and as such the nation had rightfully seen it fit to request help from Fiore’s wizards to deal with them. Sabertooth had received the request, and Serilda was deemed the perfect wizard to see to the task. Not only had she been making herself right at home in the guild and proving herself a worthy wizard, but she was also of noble birth herself. She was not only a wizard capable of dealing with the threat, but also a wise and practical choice politically.

It had been a smart move. The knowledge of her arrival was sent ahead of her, and when she crossed the border the Musketeers already had a small entourage waiting to escort her to their headquarters. Though they were all dressed in what Serilda considered a ridiculous fashion, they were more than accommodating and treated her respectfully, even using her title as a Lady rather than referring to her by her name.

And that didn’t stop there. When she arrived at their base of operations, she was lead to a lavish office where a comfortable seat had been left out for her along with snacks and refreshments. It was obvious that these people quite enjoyed showing off their riches and playing the good host. Everything was a bit more garish than even Serilda would have preferred it, but a part of her did feel at home among the comforts and the atmosphere.

“Lady Sinclair, I do apologize for keeping you waiting.” The general bustled himself into the office, his attire as over the top as everyone else’s that she had seen in this country so far. “I was delayed by another incident thanks to my lovely associates here.” He shot an accusing look toward three other Musketeers that had followed him into the room. They were a trio of women, each with a different colored hair of blonde, red, and brunette, but all stunning and commanding in their presence. There was an air of mischief about them as well, as though whatever trouble they had gotten tangled into was probably something that could have been avoided, but they didn’t regret having done it. They exchanged knowing smirks with one another, and made no effort to deny their general’s statement.

Serilda had risen from her chair  to greet them once they had come into the room. “It’s no trouble at all, general. Particularly in light of what citizens of my own nation have done to harass your people.” She offered a hand for him to shake, and it did catch him off guard. He held a high position in Minstrel, arguably the highest outside of that of the nobles themselves, but he wasn’t used to one of the elite status greeting him as an equal.

“My lady, you do me far too much courtesy,” he informed her with a smile as he accepted the gesture.

“Nonsense,” she said, waving off the thoughts she knew he was having. “I am here today as a representative of my guild first and foremost.”

“Class and manners?” one of the three ladies commented. “I like her already. Can we keep her?”

“No you may not, and you will be respectful in front of visiting dignitaries!” He huffed his frustration through a subtle sigh, and Serilda couldn’t help but smirk with amusement. The charm of the three women was quite infectious, even for her. The general told her, “Lady Sinclair, these are my three elite Musketeers: Atha, Atma, and Portha. They will be the ones accompanying you on this job. You will find them to be more than adequate in fulfilling their duties, but I do apologize in advance for their wild behaviors.”

Once the introductions were out of the way and they had gone over the basics of what needed to be done, the four women were on their way to a town called LeBuque. The Musketeers were a lively bunch. That much Serilda knew before they had set out, but once they weren’t under the watchful eye of their general they dropped all pretenses about it. It was interesting. The noblewoman had never been around such a tight-knit bunch of ladies before, but something about them was infectious. She found herself smirking and chuckling more than usual, and quickly realized it was because they were going out of their way to try and break her hardened exterior and get her to relax, as they saw it.

But she also realized that she was heavily outclassed. After hearing a couple of their stories, it was obvious that each of these women on their own were far stronger than Serilda was, to the point where the Voidwalker realized they didn’t actually need her for this job. They could go and ferret out these dark wizards from Fiore on their own with zero problem, but did not want that to complicate relations with the neighboring country. In fact, it seemed the ladies were quite focused on the job because, as they revealed, they were personal friends of the man who was being ransomed with his family.

After discussing it between the four of them, they agreed that stealth would be their best option for this job. The Musketeers weren’t worried about being able to beat the wizards, but they were worried about the Townsend family being harmed as a result of barging in. Serilda assured them that stealth shouldn’t be a problem, describing some of the practical applications of her own magic to them. This interested the ladies greatly, and they were all quite eager to see her skills in action.

When they made their way up to the manor, Serilda sensed two bodies keeping watch just inside the main door. Luckily, with the Voidwalker around they didn’t have to use the door. The four ladies sidled up to a wall of the home where they weren’t seen approaching. Then, Serilda did two things. First, she warped the properties of the wall so the group would be able to enter through it. Then, concentrating on the area the two men were loitering, she dropped her Dead Space spell. Once she could feel the pair flailing around in panic at their sudden inability to hear anything, Serilda waved the Musketeers inside.

The battle was over in seconds. Each of the ladies were armed with both guns and swords, using them in their own unique styles. But Serilda had barely stepped into the room after them before the two Fiore wizards had been knocked out cold. Atma, Atha, and Portha were grinning mischievously to themselves, riled up with excitement as they realized just how bad off these targets were going to have it between them and their new Lady friend. By the time Serilda’s silencing spell had worn off, both men had been viciously bound and gagged and placed out of sight.

Once more, Serilda tapped into her Void Sense. She could feel where she assumed the family was being kept; there was a small room with several bodies sitting awkwardly amongst one another. Adjacent to that room was one with a single person in it, who was currently sitting at a desk. She sensed three other people in the building, all of whom were in the same area together. Serilda whispered her findings to the ladies, giving as best a sense of direction as she could.

“Sounds like the family is in the storage room,” Atma growled, offended at the indecency.

Atha nodded. “We should take out that bigger group first. They’re closer anyway, but I don’t want them running in to turn the tide once we get to the family.”

“Agreed,” Portha said. Then she grinned impishly and the other two followed suit. “All for one?” They were ready to give these upstart dark wizards a beating they’d never forget.

The four of them sleuthed through the manor. When they got to the other group of wizards, Serilda threw down another silencing spell. Once again, the fight was over before the men even knew what hit them. A couple of maker magic users attempted to call to their spells, but with no sound to breathe life to their voices the magic failed utterly. The third wizard put up a bit more of a fight, but didn’t last long against four swords and three pistols. All three were given similar treatment as their allies downstairs.

When sound returned to the area, Atha, Atma, and Portha were were high spirits. “We are definitely keeping you,” Portha told Serilda with a wide grin. “I don’t care what the general says. I haven’t had it this easy on a mission in a long time, and their expressions are priceless.” Despite herself, Serilda actually laughed. There was something about these women that made her feel so at ease she could behave more lightly than she typically did. They did everything with such flair, and while she usually was against such shows the way these three did it was just delightful.

“So how are we going to get the last guy? He’s too close to the family, I don’t want him ducking in there to try and use them as cover,” one of them voiced as she finished gagging one of the maker mages, patting him affectionately on the cheek like a puppy when he tried to yell at her through the cloth.

Serilda grinned. “Actually, I have an idea for that I think you’re all going to love.” She said it with such a coy, devilish tone that all three of the Musketeers were instantly interested.

They made their way to the room that was directly below the one where the final dark wizard was sitting, still blissfully unaware of the infiltration. The Void mage positioned each of them in a circle. Then, with a quick warping to the properties in the ceiling above them, the mage dropped through, chair and all, smacking hard into the floor with a panicked yelp. He’d landed directly in the center of the four women. The trio of Musketeers grinned at him from ear to ear, brandishing their swords and pistols at the man.

Serilda, too, was smiling. “I’m Serilda Sinclair, from Sabertooth. I think it’s time for you and your boys to return home, don’t you?” she asked, being a bit more brazen in demeanor than she usually was due to the exposure from the other girls.

The dark wizard didn’t seem to think so, and in truth he proved to be a much more formidable opponent than the others. He had a teleporting ability that allowed him to skip the space between the four of them to land strikes. The man kept himself moving, never attacking one woman long enough to let them get too many return hits in, but even he couldn’t keep the effort up. The superior mages of the Musketeer forces soon had him down to the last bits of his strength, after having taken almost one too many blows.

So he tried to run away. He would have been successful, too, if Serilda weren’t able to sense exactly where his body had gone once it reappeared. He had moved himself outside, flat out abandoning his subordinates and making for the trees in the distance.

Atha, Atma, and Portha simply opened the windows and took aim, firing at him with their guns like they were holding a competition at a shooting range. Before he made it to the trees, he finally succumbed to the injuries and fainted. “I’ll go round up that one,” Atha offered as they holstered the weapons. “The rest of you get the family out of there.”

“Then we drink?” asked Portha.

“Then we drink!” Atma concurred.

As they made their way upstairs to free the hostages, Serilda couldn’t help but think she was going to be in for one wild night...