In the Nick of Time

Floating at the top of her room, Noble stared outside her small ground-level window. Her mind was solely focused on one thing.

Lifting a single pebble. 

It was something she had done each night when she wasn't sleeping. Her telekinesis powers were good, but they were like a muscle that she had never tried to strengthen. 

Having to lift a train not once, but twice in dire situations had given Noble a lot to think about. So to hone her skills, she tried to pick up individual pebbles at a distance. 

Each night she floated a single stone above the wall, which from her room was near her maximum range. Then, when that task was mastered, she had tried lifting a half dozen rocks and moving them independently of one another. 

It was a daunting task, but eventually Noble could move each one in a way that she desired. Over the weeks, Noble had learned to move slightly bigger objects. 

She learned her limitations and how much she could push those in certain situations. 

With the adrenaline of the gate, Noble had been able to guide a train, but under normal circumstances, that was beyond her capability. Maybe after she became a Master the capacity would grow, but right now it was beyond her grasp. 

But that didn't stop her from a myriad of experiments to manipulate the world around her with her skill. 

Sure, the soldiers on the wall were beginning to think the place was haunted, but all that mattered to Noble was that she was at the top of her game. 

And that practice had paid off. 

As Noble continued her nightly practice, she reflected on how her patience and dedication had paid off.

Lifting Emira from the ground had been no easy task. Thankfully, the queen had not made a full transformation into fire. 

That would have been impossible for Noble to grasp. Instead, Her Majesty had become thousands of tiny flaming particles. And that, Noble could lift. 

It had taken a great amount of concentration to keep the Queen together as she was lifted from the ground, but Noble had managed it without pulling Emira apart.

That trick had stalled long enough for Kosi to rescue her. Had Brenna been able to pull a stunt like that to buy herself time? 

Noble doubted it. Deep down, she felt that that duel had ended differently. It had ended with Brenna's death. 

The prevailing theory on Nightmares was that they had pivotal, immovable pieces which a challenger was forced to overcome. 

Like a frog in a river passing rocks, one could decide how to pass the boulder but not remove the obstacle entirely. 

Gavin standing up to the Queen would have happened no matter what Noble had done. And she would have been forced to back down or face the Queen. If Brenna was anything like her, a challenge had been issued back then as well—with tragic results. 

'That would mean I have lived longer than the Spell intended when it put me in this body. That's good...right?'

Noble had mixed feelings about the thought. Sure she had avoided Brenna's sad end, but the way forward was uncharted territory. 

Which meant Noble felt the weight of her choices even more heavily. 

Soloing a Second Nightmare was laughable in the waking world. 

But Noble would give her last breath to get back to her family. So she continued with her plan. 

This time, instead of lifting Emira as one, she would throw the woman in as many directions as she could. Then, if she was lucky, Noble would douse as many glowing fragments as time allowed. 

Would the parts of Emira's body be drawn back together when they were no longer on fire? Noble wasn't sure. 

The Queen had claimed she couldn't be killed. It was nearly time to put that belief to the test. 

'But first, more practice.' 

As the night wore on, the pebbles of the grassy lawn were drawn together and scattered over and over again. By morning, Noble had tried her strategy over a hundred times. 

At last, she decided to stop to conserve her essence. She fell into deep meditation instead. 

So she barely heard the door to the prison open or Counsel's exclamation.

"What is the meaning of this?!" 

"We are here to see Lady Brenna, not you," the other voice answered gruffly. 

'General Theo?' Noble's eyes popped open as she recognized the visitor. 

Opening the door to her smaller room, she saw the General along with two guards. Strung between them was a man in a black cloak hanging limply. 

"You wanted to see me?" Noble asked, her brow furrowed. 

Theo and the three others came into the room while Counsel stood angrily in the doorway. 

"There better be a good explanation," the protector grumbled. 

Theo bowed before Lady Brenna. "I think we found the man who was trespassing in the palace garden. We just need you to confirm that it is him." 

"Now?" Noble looked at him incredulously. Did he not realize that she and the Queen were about to have a battle to the death?

"Yes, My Lady. If this is not the man, I will leave you to rest on the bed right there and escort this man in his cloak out of the front gate. He will be free and you will still be here." Theo said slowly. 

Noble looked in the General's pleading eyes. "Oh...Oh!" 

'He is offering me a chance to escape!' 

The General nodded slightly as he saw the recognition in her eyes. 

Theo said in a low voice. "I am sure this is the man who tried to assault you. He deserves to die, not you." 

Noble could feel the man's guilt. The General would have been the one to carry out the Queen's orders to remove the rebel soldiers from the palace's forces. He has clearly felt torn between his duty and what he felt was right. 

And this was Theo's solution. Sacrificing a guilty party for someone he knew was innocent.

Noble's eyes drifted to the black-clad captive. 

Was it really Derik? The man was unconscious and covered in a cloak, so she could not be sure. But either way, she had no interest in condemning the man who had brought her back Lord Byzas's bracelets. 

"This is not the man," Noble said quickly. "Let him go free." 

One of the guards shifted to remove the man's cloak and hand it to her so they could begin the switch, but Noble stopped him. 

"I will be staying, not him. Though I do thank you for your kindness, General Theo. I will not forget it." 

Theo sighed. "You are too noble for your own good, My Lady." He shook his head.

"You've no idea," the woman responded with a smirk. 

"At least fully confirm that this is not your attacker, please." Theo shook the man to wake him. 

The figure's eyes popped open, and Noble could feel Derik's muddled emotions as he woke. 

"What am I doing here? What is the meaning of this?" He demanded of the general. 

"You are under arrest for trespassing on the palace wall," Theo explained.

"I've never been on any old palace wall. Let me go." Derik's words confused Noble. He wasn't lying, or at least he believed what he said was true. 

He was genuinely confused about what was going on. 

"It's alright. No one is going to hurt you." Noble assured him, hoping to calm his nerves. 

Her voice elicited a strong reaction. Derik whipped his head at her and squinted from beneath his hood. 

The scar across his face twitched as his entire demeanor changed. 

"You..." he said slowly. "Have you come to interrogate me?" 

"What? No!" Noble was shocked by the man's harsh words. 

Yet they stirred something in her that she couldn't quite grasp. 

Derik's face twisted into a strange smile. "I see. So you only do those sorts of things in rooftops or libraries. I understand." 

Noble froze. She looked into the man's eyes, searching for something hidden deep within. Then she cautiously uttered a single-word question. 

"Nickel?"