The music faded. Kona gave her an awkward shallow bow and then rotated to a new partner. While Cutlery kept an eye on him he rolled his stabbed foot in pain. He never stopped to look down. If he did, he would find a small puncture in his nice black leather shoes. The one, literal, hole in their plan was him seeing that wound.
Cutlery's new partner was Jake. Jake brought up his arms. With only the first movements of their dance, Cutlery got a feel for how different each person was. Compared to Kona, Jake was doing the bare minimum.
"How was your footwork?" Jake asked casually. That was their code for asking how the plan went.
"I got it down near the end. It seems he will walk my mistakes off." Cutlery said. That meant she was successful. Jake nodded.
"Mine was perfect, as always," Jake said. That meant one target was left. Jake would take care of it as he rotated and the other leads rotated partners.
The song died down as the doors connected to the fourth sliver area opened. In walked Haze and his peers. A square of four golden figures walked amid the tables and snacks. Cutlery recognized Mlion from their time at the docks. The crowd silenced as a fifth figure walked in behind the golds.
They wore no gold. Instead, they wore a refined cloak that was layered with shimmering platinum capes. Their gait was slow and thoughtful. The air bent around him. No, it pushed away from him. It was like he gave off pressure.
The crowd bowed. Cutlery followed suit. She did not want to stand out in front of this person. Peeking would be fine. Now that they approached Cutlery saw their face was soft. Its roundness was a bizarre contrast to their resplendent clothes and aura of power.
A puzzled look jumped to her face. Was this a man? Age did edge into their eyes and around their mouth. Alas, she couldn't tell. The androgynous figure stopped at the edge of the dance floor.
"Thank you all for gathering here today. I am here to reward trust, patience, and loyalty. Kona, Jaxim, and Penda. These are the three who have proven to be worthy of the legendary fifth sliver. Come, we go to the throne." They said.
The three named fourths walked to the figure. The platinum person didn't move till they were an arm's length away. Together they left the chamber. That left Haze, Mlion, and the other two golds. The new golds were more feminine than Mlion and Haze.
One had pale skin like Tall. Dark thick orbs dotted their skin under a thin gold dress. The other was an elf of some kind with the usual fair complexion and unknowable gender.
"On with it!" The pale gold said. Their voice was feminine and profound. Everyone followed the order. The music grew again and the golds mixed into the dance. Half the group moved to eat now so the dancing was more drawn out as fewer partners were around.
Cutlery moved to eat something that would get rid of the deep shaking. The sight of the platinum had done something to her. Muscles spasmed and shook involuntarily under her skin.
-
Cutlery went to the punch bowl to fill some time while her anxiety subsided. Gill was standing in front of the bowl with forced relaxation. A little waggling butt stuck out from behind his large frame. Cutlery got closer and looked around the large man. Fish was pouring the world's largest flask into the punch bowl. The glee of a child radiated from his every movement. Fish's job during the rebellion was in fact to do as he was currently doing.
The memory of Jake explaining that the alcohol spiking shielding their poisoning vaguely surfaced for Cutlery. Also, the spiking made the ball into a party.
The entire room seemed to know when the punch got spiked. Over the next ten minutes, it went from a hundred gallons to zero. A small crowd began to give the golds drinks as well. After a few attempts, all but Haze started sipping.
The thirds begged for recounting of fourth sliver missions. The scale of their stories was large. Some of the fourths had even been deployed to minor skirmishes with other cities! Due to Zurkonia's location, there were only a half dozen cities close enough to contest anything.
Zurkonia's slivered fighting force was unique. The other cities' high royalty were slivers of middling power. Many expensive mercenaries were slivered and utilized the world around them. Those together still totaled half the quantity Zurkonia commanded. The Tower commanded a vast amount of divine strength. The fourths started to die down and the thirds moved to their next target. The golds grand tales.
They spoke of fighting on the bottom of the ocean, in dungeons, and even up in the skies above Potestatem. Mlion was opening sharing his tales without anyone asking.
"We were out at sea on our ship. Ship yes, for sailing. We were to check on a small outpost we had at an atoll a few dozen miles away. On our way here we kept hearing bumps in the lower decks. Eventually..." Mlion slurred and made a face of concentration. His story dawned a second time and he said,
"The bumps were some huge sea elves that had broken into our hull! The rum barrels had broken and mixed with the water. They had breathed it through their gills and were drunker than me now!" Mlion laughed his ears off at that tale.
The other golds shared tales of grand battles with huge monsters and the destruction left in their wake.
"One time!" The elven gold interjected. At this point, one of their sleeves was off. Even with half their breasts revealed, Cutlery couldn't tell if they were a male or female elf.
"One time, an asteroid fell into the city! We contained the blast but then a huge slime came out of it! After a battle that took some twenty minutes, we managed to learn it could heal infinitely fast! So we took a day to keep it back while some mages made us something to toss it in. Now it's stuck in the tower pipes as your target practice dummies!" The elf said and laughed almost as hard as Mlion.
The doors once again were flung open. The music died and the gay air instantly evaporated. Everyone turned to see the commotion. The platinum figure stood in the doorway. Expressionless they waited for everyone's full attention. The drunk thirds remembered what they had done and began to sweat.
"Golds, with me." The platinum figure said.
-
Three of the golds wobbled to their feet. Haze stood without issue. The elven one waved a hand in three directions. The flush in their cheeks faded away. Only the Goliath gold still had some drink in her, but she seemed mostly in control.
Once they reached the waiting platinum figure outside, the doors slammed shut. The youths looked at each other. Some smiled, thinking they had done it. Others chittered about what they should do. Cutlery knew they couldn't do a single thing. A single gold wouldn't be an issue, but four, plus however powerful the platinum person was!
Stress had killed the mood. Some of the fourths and thirds returned to their floors with quick goodbyes. After only ten minutes half youths remained. The band even started to pack. The waiters cleaned up the many plates and discarded cloaks. Cutlery couldn't find her friends so she made a quick escape for the third floor. A glance at the fourth sliver's door showed it was still closed the golds and platinum.
Back on the third sliver floor, everyone kept to themselves. It was too soon to plan another step. Paranoia would surely be running rampant through everyone. Who knew what the golds might do? Perhaps even now they were preparing to storm the floor and take them all, prisoner.
Within her room Cutlery discarded her dress in the laundry basket some unknown tower worker always took. She curled up under her sheets. The soft silk slowly rested across her shoulders. Alone, her thoughts poked at her.
She remembered Konas's tears, his uncertainty. None of her enemies before this had done anything but attack her. Now she simply had killed. Just because someone told her to. She trusted the other rebels. Trust was what held her together here. Watching so many people die was grinding away at her soul.
Injuries had been healed but the memories were just pushed away from the surface. Cutlery sat up and looked out the window. The dancing twinkling silver sashes flew above the city.
She got up and grabbed some late-night biscuits and gravy from the kitchen. The food was laid out for anyone to take while the cook slept. Cutlery sadly admitted to herself the food was a comfort meal at this point. At the same time, she was sick of it.
Bread crumbs scattered on her sheets while she ate. She watched the city. A beam of light shone from somewhere above her toward the harbor. She watched as the water a half mile out from the docks lit up. A second later a huge geyser of water flared up.
A few seconds later she felt a small quake. the spotlight beam faded. Several shadowy figures flew along the path the beam had taken. A small mist still hung in the air where the beam had hit.
Cutlery watched a little longer, curious but saw nothing. Perhaps the platinum figure had taken out their anger on some fish? Who knew? She went to bed with the new lighter thoughts of curiosity burying her shame.
