The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

The message that Noble had sent to Fort had included half of the Memory used for communication. She had done that for two reasons. 

The first was to let her husband know that she was still alive and well. The Other's Voice was how Fort had known she was not dead when she fell into the Nightmare Seed, and so she hoped it would set his mind at ease now as well.

The second reason was so that they could get the most important part of their conversation out of the way before she reached the kids and her attention was diverted.

The first message Noble sent had no response, and she pursed her lips.

'Did I misjudge the distance?'

'Noble, is that you?' A second voice entered the professor's mind.

Apparently, she had either been off on her guess of distance or Fort hadn't been listening until now. Depending on how often they chatted on her walks home in the future, she would discover which it was.

'I am heading back to the house now. I'll be there shortly.'

The urge to lift over the houses and fly home was strong, but her resolve not to let her nosey children overhear the serious conversation was stronger.

And Noble wasn't sure she could wait until bed to give her husband the most important information she had gathered that day.

'How did everything go? Renle came by but—'

'Yosh!' Noble cut off her husband's line of questions.

'Master Yosh? What about him? He isn't here, is he?' Fort rushed Noble's mind with questions.

'He is a monster.' The professor explained quickly.

'You've said that before…' Fort seemed genuinely confused.

'I have proof now. I ran into it again today…not Yosh,' Noble quickly corrected herself, 'but another body the Skinwalker had stolen.'

'Skinwalker…what do you mean by stolen?' The ambassador tried to wrap his head around his wife's words.

'From what I witnessed, it kills a person and takes over their body, wearing it and talking like nothing has changed.'

Noble continued to feel for the malevolent presence even as she turned down her street. So far everything was clear.

'What exactly did you witness?' The strain in Fort's question pricked Noble's heart.

Once again she had experienced something incomprehensible without her husband.

'When we were heading to the palace, a vessel of the Skinwalker approached me and tried to latch on. When that didn't work, it killed and took over Ginnar's body before eventually being destroyed by Lady Seishan and some of her sisters and allies.'

Noble felt a little weird lumping Mordret in with the pilgrims, but she didn't want to get bogged down in that particular detail.

'I went to the Waking World and spoke to Saint Cor. He will track down Master Yosh and any other vessels of the Skinwalker that he can find. That was why I'm late for dinner. I'm sorry!'

Fort didn't respond right away. It was a lot to take in.

'Ginnar… is dead?'

Noble bit her lip. 'I should have found a better way to tell you. How well did you know him?'

The professor had been so caught up in her own experience that she hadn't really thought about how the news of a colleague's death might hurt her husband.

'I didn't know him well.' Fort answered after a pause. 'But still, he is gone just like that. We spoke this afternoon before you left. It's all so sudden.'

'It is. I'm sorry.' Noble wished she could hug her husband. How could she have been so thoughtless?

After a long silence, Fort entered her head once more. 'Bee? Be honest with me.'

The professor frowned. 'What do you want to know?'

'You said that the Skinwalker is killing and taking over people. Is there a limit to how many it can possess?'

'I'm not sure,' Noble answered.

Lindy had been killed when Ginnar was taken over, but Noble suspected that was a kill of convenience.

'Then…If I had listened to you and followed up on Yosh more thoroughly…it's possible that Ginnar would be alive right now, correct?'

Stopping in the street, Noble felt the weight of her husband's question.

'You can't think like that! Even if you confronted Yosh, the most likely end would have been him trying to kill you. The Skinwalker attacked multiple Saints today without a second thought. You wouldn't have been able to change anything. It would have continued to spread even with your interference.'

It was only the information from Seishan and Mordret that had helped Noble understand the insidious nature of the Nightmare Creature.

Before that, what would Fort have been able to say when if he confronted Yosh? "My wife has a bad feeling about you"?

That would not have gone over well.

So while she understood Fort's self-doubt, she couldn't support it. If Noble did, she would also have to blame herself for not being more insistent.

The blame game would not get them anywhere.

Fort did not seem in the mood to argue with her assessment.

'I suppose you are right. I love you and am glad you are safe. Are you almost home?'

Noble grimaced. 'I think so? Between talking to you and looking out for more Skinwalkers, I haven't been paying full attention to where I am going.'

'Bee, are you lost again?''

Noble's grimace turned to a wince. 'I'll be home in a minute. You'll see!'

Abandoning her conscious sweep for the crazed monster, Noble focused on finding her husband among all the homes.

He was easy to find and not far off.

'You may want to summon your Bread Crumbs in case I'm not home next time.' Fort advised with a bit of amusement.

Noble's eyes opened wide.

How could he possibly have known her tactic?!

'Don't be too impressed,' Fort answered her unasked question, 'You've never been good with directions.'

'You are both smart and insulting. I don't know whether to be offended or impressed.' Noble stuck out her tongue at her absent husband.

Silently she summoned the [Bread Crumbs] and allowed the glowing trail to form behind her.

Next time she would be able to hover over the settlement and retrace her steps.

Why hadn't she thought of that sooner?

'I married a genius.' Noble chuckled.

'And don't you forget it!' Fort quipped, letting his wife know her thought had leaked through. 'Don't worry, I still got the better end of the deal when it comes to marriage.'

'And don't you forget it,' Noble parroted back at her husband.

The words made Noble's face flush even more than the warm air from the volcano should have allowed.

'I'm sorry I missed our first meal in our new home,' she told her husband sincerely.

The sun had set not long ago and the first of the three mesmerizing moons was rising in the night sky.

'Don't worry. There will be other meals. We did what we could.'

A pang of guilt hit Noble. Exactly how much had she missed by being gone all afternoon?

'I hope you didn't have to go to too much trouble. I should have been there! As soon as I get there I will help get the house set up.'

With her Ability, unpacking wouldn't take long and they would be back on track to go to sleep on time.

'Uh, about the house…' Fort hesitated. 'There's something you'll want to see.'