Valkyrie's Shadow

Empire in Chains: Act 5, Chapter 16

Empire in Chains: Act 5, Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Nemel wanted to scream. It was perfectly reasonable to scream. The ground was still beyond the range of her goggles’ Darkvision, but the scant moonlight over the landscape seemed to continually suggest that she was about to have an abrupt and unromantic encounter with the frozen mountainside.

But she couldn’t scream. At first, it was because her entire body seized up and she physically couldn’t. After that, her training as an air officer took over and she forced herself to analyse the situation. Dame Verilyn didn’t want to be noticed as she approached whatever this base was supposed to be, so she mustered all of her willpower to hold in her panic. After half a minute of plummeting into the darkness, her frantic mind finally eked out a rational alternative.

She went through the motions of a spell, casting Silence on herself. And then, she screamed.

Around the time she had screamed her lungs out, the world lurched as Frost Dragon decelerated. Nemel’s body squished against Dame Verilyn’s grip, but her arms and legs and head wanted to keep falling, making it feel like someone was trying to pull them off. Somewhere along the way, Nemel was released. She dispelled her Silence and cast a Fly spell like she was trained to by the army after being subjected to an aerial dismounting. At first, she left Dame Verilyn far behind, but Nemel eventually slowed her descent enough for her liege to overtake her.

The structures of the base below finally appeared in her equipment’s Darkvision. The Frost Dragon transformed in mid-air, landing silently on an empty parapet in her Human guise. Nemel activated her Invisibility cloak and floated down to join her. Except that, by the time she landed, Dame Verilyn could no longer be seen.

Nemel nervously looked around, not daring to move or make a sound.

That Erenoswhatever said this was the Ijaniya base, right? He definitely said Ijaniya…

Every Noble knew of the legendary Assassin organisation. They had the power to topple nations through their evil acts and, for the right price, they could be hired to do exactly that. She still couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to assassinate Dame Verilyn, though it might have been to enact a longstanding grudge. The Empire and the Imperial House had plenty of wealthy and powerful enemies.

Rather than paying whatever it cost to directly bring about the downfall of the Empire, they could engineer an ‘incident’ and hope that it brought about catastrophic results. A representative from the Sorcerous Kingdom being murdered in the Empire might very well invite a punitive response from the powerful nation against its client state. The way that Dame Verilyn travelled from city to city made her a tantalising target relative to Baroness Zahradnik, who was working with the Imperial Army.

Anxious worry filled Nemel as she continued to consider what her new liege was doing. Ijaniya had a reputation for reliably carrying out kidnappings, sabotage and assassinations, but how would they fare against Dame Verilyn? The Bronze Dragon they had left behind was nearly twice as long as her and said that he couldn’t handle them for another century yet. She had participated in the operation to remove the Ancient Green from The Blister, but as far as Nemel knew it had been a combined effort between the Imperial Army and the forces of the Sorcerous Kingdom.

Was there something she could do to help? She had some spells that might…

“Blorph–”

Nemel bumped into something soft. Dame Verilyn had been standing right in front of her. She opened her mouth to ask a question, then stopped to silentcast another Silence spell around them first. Dame Verilyn looked straight at Nemel despite her being invisible.

“Was that you?” She asked, “My Blindsight just lost all sound.”

“Sorry, I had a question.”

“What is it?”

“I want to help,” Nemel said. “Can I cast some spells on you?”

“What sort of spells?”

“Um, I have…wait, what magic items are you using?”

“I currently have a Belt of Magnificence, Ring of Greater Fire Resistance, Ring of Nondetection, Greater Periapt of Health, Lesser Bracers of Armour…a bunch of consumables – potions and scrolls and such. There’s also a Ring of Sustenance and a Ring of Regeneration I could use, but I haven’t needed those for a long while.”

Nope, maybe? Nope, nope…I’ve only heard of one of those items.

Aside from the Belt of Magnificence, they did at least seem self-explanatory. Since the Sorcerous Kingdom was so much more advanced than the Empire, it probably had many magic items of greater potency than the ones that she was familiar with.

“Reinforce Armour won’t do anything since you have Lesser Bracers of Armour…you don’t have anything like a shield, do you?”

“I don’t,” Dame Verilyn replied. “Dragons don’t use weapons, shields or the like.”

“?Shield Wall?.”

Nemel tapped her chin, going through her short list of spells. With only a few months in the Imperial Air Service, she was far from done learning the basic repertoire of magic required of aerial mages.

“What does your Belt of Magnificence do?”

“It increases all of my attributes.”

“Eh…something like that exists? I’ve only heard of items that raised one attribute before now. Well, what about your Dancer outfit?”

“What about it?”

“It must be a magic item as well, right?”

“No, it’s not actually an item at all,” Dame Verilyn told her. “It’s just something that Lady Shalltear had me imitate.”

A frown crossed Nemel’s face as her mind helplessly veered towards what her liege was implying.

“But you’re wearing something, yes?”

“No.”

Nemel’s eyes grew wide. She turned her gaze away.

“Th-that means you’ve been running around naked this entire time?!”

“I’ve been ‘running around naked’ for over a century,” Dame Verilyn replied. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. Are there any other spells that you have for me? I’d like to continue examining the area.”

“Sorry,” Nemel said. “I think that’s all I can do. You should really get more equipment though – there’s so much stuff you could be wearing.”

“High-quality magical equipment that suits my needs appears to be rather rare in the Empire. I thought those items would be plentiful here given this country’s reputation as a bastion of arcane advancement, but a few Merchants suggested that the Imperial Army monopolises most of the things that I’m looking for.”

“They do. I just thought you’d have better items in the Sorcerous Kingdom.”

Almost all of the items that Dame Verilyn wore were already beyond Nemel’s immediate knowledge so it felt strange that the Frost Dragon would come to the Empire and look for magic items. Nemel had no idea how much they had cost so it was probably wrong to assume that the Frost Dragon had carelessly left herself unequipped. What made more sense was that she was saving up money from all of the Adventurer commissions she had been doing to buy more pieces that she wanted when she got back home.

“Not in the public markets,” Dame Verilyn said. “Otherwise, I would have purchased them. The Adventurer Guild has some, however, so maybe I can get something when I come back from all this advertising.”

Or not. The Sorcerous Kingdom was just too strange. Why would Adventurers have greater access to powerful magic items than the government? No – according to Dame Verilyn, the Sorcerous Kingdom’s Adventurers worked for the government, but still…

Nemel shook her head. Thinking about it just caused more confusion. She would need to see things for herself when she got there.

“Right. Um, what will you do now?”

“I will test the quality of the individuals here.”

“Test the quality?” Nemel frowned.

“I received some instructions while we were in Nixhaven,” Dame Verilyn said. “Lady Shalltear was looking for spies.”

“Spies? Why?”

“Understanding is not required…or that’s what I was told. I was tasked to shop around for the best spies possible, so these developments are quite convenient.”

Were spies something one could shop around for? It was probably a bad idea to dig into the Sorcerous Kingdom’s affairs. Nemel Gran was just the daughter of a minor house and had little to do with unfathomably powerful nations and their grand schemes.

Nemel dispelled her Silence spell and Dame Verilyn turned her attention back to the mountain complex. After several minutes, she nodded to herself before softly raising her voice in song. Before Nemel could decipher the curious medley, a set of fingers grasped the edge of the parapet and a man dressed in a suspicious black outfit pulled himself up.

“Thank you for coming,” Dame Verilyn smiled.

“Anything for you, miss,” the man nodded as he crouched down to speak with them.

Dame Verilyn glanced at Nemel.

“?Silence?.”

“Is this the Ijaniya headquarters?” The Frost Dragon asked.

“Yep,” the man replied. “The founder herself came and had it built here.”

The legend of the Thirteen Heroes was generally accepted to be true, but solid proof of their existence was scarce. Even their names for the most part had been lost to time and their identities were more characters in the tales than those of real people.

“So Ijaniya was really named after one of the Thirteen Heroes?” Nemel asked.

She shifted back as the man turned a cold stare at her.

“This is one of my minions,” Dame Verilyn furrowed her brow at the man. “Be nice to her.”

“Of course,” the cold stare melted away. “Ijaniya was the founder, yeah. She was one of the heroes gathered to fight the Demon Gods. Wasn’t just thirteen, though – I dunno how people come up with that number.”

“Does that mean you’re all descended from Ijaniya?”

That might be big trouble if they were. Just like how Nobles bred for beauty and charisma, people found strength and talent attractive precisely because they could be passed on to their children. If all of these Assassins were as strong as the legendary heroes…

“The boss is the heiress – a direct descendant,” the man said. “She’s out on a job right now with our senior members. Maybe a third of us are strongly related to the founder. The rest are inducted into the clan from around the region: orphans and such who show the potential to be good Ninjas.”

“Are Ninjas spies?” Dame Verilyn asked.

“We can do espionage-related work, yeah. Collecting information, sabotage, sowing discord – all that good stuff.”

“Oh, good,” her liege brightened. “Say, how strong are you compared to the others?”

The man adjusted his headband, straightening proudly where he squatted.

“I don’t mean to brag,” he bragged, “but I’m one of the top forty. It’s a big organisation though, so you got all the members with their different roles. While we’re all trained to perform various types of assassinations, we only resort to conventional combat if it’s the best option. It usually isn’t. We have agents all over the place.”

“How many of you are there?” Nemel asked.

“A lot. Like I said, running around and stabbing people is the least of our work. The only espionage network more expansive than ours is the one operated by the Windflower Scripture.”

“Who are they?”

“The Scriptures are the Slane Theocracy’s special forces,” he told her. “I guess you could say that the Windflower Scripture is the conventional intelligence agency of the Slane Theocracy. People that watch, listen and deliver information. They perform reconnaissance for the other Scriptures as well. The Clearwater Scripture is the more…intrusive branch of the Theocracy’s spy operations. Diviners, infiltrators, saboteurs – that sort of thing.”

Nemel barely knew anything about the Slane Theocracy, never mind their secret stuff. Dame Verilyn tilted her head with a thoughtful look.

“If they’re better than Ijaniya,” she said, “maybe I should get spies from them instead.”

“I-it’s not as if they’re better,” the man said defensively. “Just bigger. They have the official backing of the oldest and most powerful Human nation in the region, after all. Ijaniya does the work of both the Windflower and Clearwater Scriptures. Well, except for the magic caster part.”

“I see,” Dame Verilyn said. “Maybe I’ll pick your group, after all.”

The man settled on his heels with a satisfied look. Was this ‘shopping’ for spies? Nemel hadn’t known Dame Verilyn had literally intended that. Did Assassins normally try to sell themselves like this?

“Why is he talking to us like this?” Nemel asked, “Aren’t Assassins supposed to be super sneaky and stuff?”

“Because I charmed him,” Dame Verilyn answered.

“…is it okay to say that right in front of him?”

Her liege turned to look at the man.

“Do you mind being charmed?”

“Not at all, miss,” the man leered at Dame Verilyn. “You can charm me all day if you want. More than that, if you get what I me–”

“I get it!” Nemel waved a hand at him, “So this is what you’re going to do? Charm them all?”

“That seems like a bother,” Dame Verilyn replied. “I was told to shop for spies and now I’ve found them.”

Reaching into one of her magical containers, Dame Verilyn produced a scroll. The parchment went up in a burst of azure flame. Her liege raised a hand to her ear as she usually did when conversing through a Message spell. A half-minute later, an inky-black hole formed in the air before them.

Nemel hid behind Dame Verilyn’s shoulder, staring at the strange sight. Trepidation turned to awe as a pale young woman stepped out of the darkness and onto the frost-slicked stones before them.

Dame Verilyn was by far the most beautiful woman that Nemel had ever seen, but the new arrival eclipsed even her. She was a perfect doll come to life, adorned in voluminous fabrics of peerless craftsmanship and incalculable value. Even in the darkness, Nemel recognised a beauty that superseded all other beauties; one that snuffed out envy and jealousy like the petty things they were, leaving only longing and adoration in the hearts of all who witnessed her. A world-class beauty.

Six voluptuous women in diaphanous alabaster silks trailed in her wake. Dame Verilyn lowered her head in a deep curtsey. Nemel hastily followed suit.

“Lady Shalltear,” her liege offered her greetings.

Lady Shalltear did not reply, instead turning her glowing crimson gaze on the man squatting nearby. Her silvery voice delicately traced its way through the air.

“He really does look like a Ninja…” A delicate frown turned her lips, “Something is off, though. Aren’t Ninjas supposed to be higher level?”

“I’ve never seen a Ninja before, my lady,” Dame Verilyn said. “I’m just going by what he said. You’re a Ninja, right?”

“I am,” the man nodded.

“Mmh…”

“He also said something about their organisation being the best in the region,” Dame Verilyn added. “I’ve only spoken to this one man, however. Knowing how Humans are, it would be best to verify his claims.”

The man abruptly flew as Lady Shalltear took his arm and casually tossed him into the hole in the air. It dissipated into nothingness a second later.

“I see,” Lady Shalltear said. “Then let us get some more of them, shall we?”