Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 3, Chapter 11

Winter's Crown: Act 3, Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Kesstris Esess worked up his courage, facing down the mysterious portal that hovered before him.

He glanced to his rear, to the five Hunters who had been chosen to accompany him. They were all proud to have been selected by Lord Cocytus; excited to be sent to a place where their people could build new homes and flourish.

Usually, it was rare for Lizardmen to have any desire to leave their ancestral homes. In the past year, however, the promise of Ainz Ooal Gown to bring prosperity to their people was slowly being fulfilled before their very eyes, so a few had become willing to embark on this great venture. A new tribe of the Lizardman Alliance – one under Kesstris’ leadership as their chief. Now, as he stared at the portal that was said to lead to their destination, he wasn’t so sure if he should be looking forward to it.

It was the land of the Human he had fought some time ago, in a duel to determine the leadership of the new tribe. Recalling the outcome, he suppressed a shudder.

“It would please me if you’d stop gawking at the Gate and enter,” an imperious voice said from the side. “There’s another group headed to E-Rantel coming up, and I have a schedule to keep.”

Kesstris glanced nervously towards the source of the voice: a small, Elf-like figure in a voluminous black dress. She was one of the powerful servants of Ainz Ooal Gown, rumoured to be even more powerful than Lord Cocytus and Lord Mare. There were other rumours surrounding her, too: that she was actually an evil Undead creature, a being that revelled in suffering, death, and wanton destruction. The liege of his new liege – what hell was he being cast into?

He wished he could return to Lord Cocytus’ service, but the Lord of the Great Lake was wroth after witnessing his dismal conduct during the duel as well. Swallowing audibly, Kesstris stepped forward tentatively, hesitating once again at the portal’s threshold before squeezing his eyes shut and forcing his legs to move. Warmth washed over him; the scent of cut timber and damp vegetation filled his nostrils. His eyes popped open, blinking rapidly several times as he squinted through the glare of the midday sun.

Turning in place, he looked about. A flat stretch of coarse gravel and sand. Endless rows of timber piled high. A broad river with cliffs that towered over the opposite shore. The portal that he had just stepped out of. One of the Hunters appeared out of it, colliding into him, and they fell down into a tangled heap.

A pair of boots appeared in his upside-down vision.

“The landing area of a Gate should be cleared of hazards,” a voice said. “That would include yourselves.”

It was her.

Kesstris and the Hunter scrambled to their feet, getting out of the way of the others coming through the portal. They lined up nearby, eyeing everything nervously. When the last of their group joined them, the portal silently closed.

“Welcome to Warden's Vale,” she said in a clear tone that arrested their attention. “I believe we’ve seen one another before, but allow me to introduce myself again. I am Baroness Ludmila Zahradnik, Lord Protector of Warden’s Vale and Defender of the Katze Reach.”

Though the way she spoke was strange, the feeling was eerily familiar. It was the same as when Shasuryu Shasha, head of the Lizardman Alliance, spoke. The head chief’s cool words could quench heated debates on the verge of coming to blows, even between the heads of the warriors and priests. His keen gaze was capable of withering opposition without uttering a single word. Over crowds of men and women on the eve of battle, his voice could still their quavering hearts and raise their spirits.

This, then, was a Human Lord? The Travellers spoke nothing of Human Lords – only that Humans as a whole were a soft-skinned race, living in dry places with alien ways. Shasuryu Shasha was a mighty warrior who could wield druidic magic: could this Human Lord do so as well? Had she been concealing her strength? She felt more powerful now than when they had fought some weeks before.

A feeling of hostility washed over him and he glanced at its source: another Human – the smaller one who had accompanied the Human Lord when they came to the Great Lake – was glaring directly in his direction.

“Kesstris Esess,” he replied hurriedly as he dipped his head. “These Hunters with me have come to scout the place where…where we must live.”

The sense of hostility vanished, but he couldn’t help but silently berate himself after the words came out of his mouth. He was no good at speaking. Lord Cocytus had trained a few who could present themselves eloquently, but he felt the furthest thing from it. Hopefully, he didn’t offend – having his tongue pinned to the ground once was one too many times.

The assembled Lizardmen shifted uncomfortably as Baroness Zahradnik’s sharp gaze ran over them. Kesstris cringed slightly when it returned to him.

“It should take some time with your group,” she said, “so you should get started right away.”

“Some time…?”

He looked around again, seeing nothing but the river, its cliffs and the vast stores of timber. The Human Lord turned away, gesturing for them to follow. The others looked to Kesstris, and he led them in her wake, around the great piles of logs along the river. It took them several minutes to make their way, then they found themselves on the shore of a marsh that stretched north to the horizon. The members of the scouting party exchanged glances, gazing out and back between themselves again.

“Will this suffice?” The Human Lord asked.

“This…this,” Kesstris stammered. “All of this?”

“If the geese will let you,” her lip curled up slightly – what did that mean? “They can be quite ornery at times, so you may want to be careful around them. Human villagers forage on the shores as well, and my Rangers will eventually frequent the area.”

“Where do you intend for us to live, exactly?”

“I have received no information as to how many Lord Cocytus intends to send,” she replied. “I assume that it depends on your own findings?”

“Y-yes, that’s right,” Kesstris said. “At a glance, I feel that we could move the entire Lizardman Alliance – there is more space to live here than our home at the Great Lake.”

He looked to the Hunters, who all nodded at his words.

“In that case,” the Human Lord said, “you should at least bring enough to maintain a viable population.”

“A viable population?”

“Large enough to prevent inbreeding?” Her expression changed, “I suppose you could also have people move between other places to find suitable partners…”

“I-I’ll have to include that in my report to Lord Cocytus.”

“I see.” She said, “Well, you may set your camps anywhere that suits you while you survey the area.”

Kesstris looked out at the expanse of dense vegetation, stands of strange trees and flows of water. It was quite different from the marshes in the shallows of the Great Lake.

“Is there anything dangerous here?” Kesstris asked carefully, “A-aside from the geese. Purple Worms, Swamp Sharks or Will-o-Wisps, for instance?”

"There was,” she answered, “once. House Zahradnik has long exterminated any aggressive threats to its people within the borders of Warden’s Vale. There are no Demihuman tribes out on the floodplain, either."

Exterminated.

Kesstris finally pinned down the feeling that remained to haunt him since he had fought this Human Lord. There was a constant pressure that could be felt when fighting her, but, after a certain point, it went from the sense that she saw him as a challenge to her authority, to the impression that he was a pest that she was going to squash.

He suppressed a shudder. Even the female accompanying this Human Lord looked at him like he was nothing more than a stain on cloth. Were all Humans like this?

“If you have any further questions, or if there is anything you require, I will be in my manor for the rest of the day – the building sticking out of the hill with a Death Knight guarding the door.”

With those instructions, she turned away and left them to their own devices.

Kesstris’ gaze followed her partway back to the stony hill in the distance: a fortified position of layered ramparts and fences. Shaking his head, he turned back to his Hunters.

“How should we begin?” Asked a black-scaled female.

“Materials for the camp, first,” he answered. “We should stick to the shore for now. The softskin chief said that there’s nothing really dangerous, yet they live on a fortified hill of stone. Perhaps there are animals like venomous snakes and giant toads lurking in the water.”

The group spread out, looking for a convenient location to stockpile materials and construct shelters. Their heads turned up when a pair of large Undead appeared, carrying a tree trunk between them. He could not tell exactly how strong they were, but they were beyond the power of the Nazarick Old Guarders that were employed to defend the village at the Great Lake. They stomped by without pause, placed the trunk atop one of the piles, and went back the way they came. He motioned for the Hunters to head further north: it was probably best to not be underfoot.

They eventually found themselves at the end of the timber yard, over two kilometres away from where they had started. The marsh still stretched on, but he thought he could see a rise on the far northern end.

They gathered reeds from the shore, weaving them into tight mats. Mud was slathered on them to form panels for their makeshift huts: ones that could be dismantled and moved as they explored this new place. Well into the evening, a cosy ring of shelters had appeared, and a fire crackled in its midst. The scouting party squatted around the fire, sorting out their provisions.

The black-scaled female, Ezsris, spoke as she munched on a smoked carp.

“So far,” she said, “this place shows abundance. Finding enough to build these shelters would have taken days back home. While foraging for materials, I noticed crabs and fish and plenty of useful plants. I thought we would be brought to some meagre place, reluctantly afforded to us, but the marsh here is vast – it is a great surprise that no one lives here.”

She was plainly excited about their prospects. Her eyes shone as she spoke, and the tip of her tail tapped the ground rhythmically.

“Why is it surprising? You heard the softskin chief: Exterminated. Anything they didn’t like, they callously killed off. Now they have this entire valley to themselves. You are letting the bounty of this place blind you, Ezsris. Others have surely paid the price for it in the past.”

The cynical counter came from a male with sand-coloured scales, Usuryus. Kesstris considered his opinion more balanced. This valley was akin to a jealously guarded treasure, and the way that the Human Lord carried herself did not give off the aura of someone who wallowed in uncontested luxury. After his fight with her, he understood that she was a ruthless, trained killer: someone who probably had the blood of many on her hands.

“We’re her vassals now, aren’t we?” A hint of uncertainty entered Ezsris’ voice, and her tail went limp, “I don’t think Lord Cocytus sent us here to be ex…exterminated.”

“Maybe,” Usuryus said, “maybe not. You heard what Lord Cocytus said: this softskin chief is someone else’s vassal. The rumours about her…we cannot expect Lord Cocytus’ kindness here.”

“He said we would learn fear,” said a female with mottled grey scales on the other side of the fire. “What does that mean? Are these Humans going to eat us? Our people can probably flourish in this place – maybe they intend on having us farmed like fish!”

“I was meaning to ask about that later,” a voice came from somewhere.

The Human Lord suddenly appeared before them, the campfire casting a grim light over her features. Everyone cried out in terror. Half dove into their huts; Kesstris and Ezsris fell over themselves. Yenseus, the grey-scaled female, went stiff-tailed before fainting dead away.

“A-ask about what?” Kesstris asked after he had recovered his wits.

“The fish farms,” the Human Lord’s teeth gleamed in the light of the fire. “Do you believe it possible to cultivate them here?”

Fish Farms? Did she plan on feeding the Lizardmen fish, then feed the Lizardmen to her people? No, that didn’t sound quite right, but still…

“I’m not certain,” he offered a noncommittal response. “The ones that helped build the fish farms are back at the Great Lake – I do not know if any will come here.”

“I suppose I will need to negotiate with Lord Cocytus for their construction,” the Human Lord said. “Do you know how the fish are raised?”

“Ehm…from what I’ve seen, they’re now raised from fries, and the farms are divided by age. Lord Cocytus has grain brought in to feed the fish, but I think there are some other things added.”

The Human stared at him the entire time, causing him to shift uncomfortably.

“I see,” she said. “I should check on their requirements as well…how are things so far? You seem to have made yourselves comfortable here.”

“Y-yes, Chief,” Kesstris said. “Materials that we are accustomed to using are close and plentiful, so it went faster than anticipated. We’ll begin our work in the morning.”

“That is good to hear,” she said. “Can any of you read or write?”

“I-I don’t think so…a few have learned – those most eloquent that Lord Cocytus has selected to be trained – but we are none of that number.”

The Human Lord reached into a pouch at her side, withdrawing a thick roll of parchments. She separated one out and held it out to him.

“Can you understand this, then?”

He took the proffered sheet of paper, carefully unfurling it in his claws. It looked like a map, but of what, he wasn’t sure. He passed it over to Ezsris, who had untangled herself and returned to her feet.

“A map…?” She looked down at it, then at their surroundings. “It’s only for the area near here, though.”

The Human Lord nodded slowly after the Hunter’s response, reaching into the pouch again. Kesstris inexplicably found himself carrying a small pile of maps and blank paper shortly after.

“Since you will be conducting a survey of the floodplain,” she told them, “I will be adding your findings into the demesne archives. Each of these sheets contains a section of the area, and you should be able to cover one of these maps per day. Each day, your chieftain will report your work to me at the manor – for the southern third, at least. I will send someone to you once you’ve made your way too far north to get back and forth quickly.”

He looked down at the maps in confusion. What was the purpose of this? Though Lord Cocytus had spearheaded the subjugation of other tribes in the vicinity of the Great Lake, and now oversaw its development, he usually relied on the existing experience of the locals for knowledge of the land.

“At any rate,” the Human Lord said, “the day must have been a long one for you, so that will be all for this evening. Remember to report to me at my manor tomorrow.”

Saying nothing further, she turned around and disappeared into the night. Kesstris stepped out after her, peering in the direction that she had gone in, but he couldn’t tell where she was. Lizardmen had Darkvision, but she had either gone beyond its range or was quite stealthy. He looked over his shoulder several times as he returned to fire, unable to free his mind of the idea that there might be a predator stalking nearby.

Back at the fire, he frowned down at the maps in his claws. Wait – he was already supposed to start reporting to her?

The two who had hidden in their huts poked their heads out, while Ezsris was trying to rouse Yenseus, who was still passed out on the gravel.

“She didn’t deny it,” Usuryus’ low voice drifted out from his hut.

“Didn’t deny what?” It took a moment for Kesstris to realize what he was referring to, “Oh. W-well, she only mentioned the fish farms at the Great Lake – maybe Humans hear things differently?”

Usuryus made his way out of his shelter and shivered, quickly padding over to the fire and tucking in his tail. The valley they were in was deep, and shadows fell over the land earlier than usual, making it cooler than they were used to. Icy winds came down from the Azerlisia Mountains at the Great Lake, but the sun also stayed over the horizon longer to lend the cold-blooded Lizardmen its warmth. Having a Human chief aside, those who came to live here would need to make some basic changes to their way of life.

“I cannot say if Humans hear things differently from us,” Usuryus said, “but you’ve seen the way that she moves. That one is a Hunter – she must have seen and heard what was said long before we even realized she was there.”

Kesstris couldn’t refute his words. Hunters had supernaturally sharp senses that grew as they became more powerful – some even had ways to enhance them even further.

“Stop trying to scare everyone!” Ezsris hissed at Usuryus, “We must make the best of what is offered, or she will make less of us than what we are. Her words are those of one who is accustomed to using others, like the chiefs and elders back home. Besides, Lord Cocytus forbids the peoples of the lake from eating one another – why should it be any different here?”

“Naïve!” Usuryus said, “Too naïve!”

“We’re the same age!” Ezsris scowled as she went to throw a blanket of reeds over the still-unconscious Yenseus, “What suddenly makes you so much wiser than I?”

“Remember who she serves! That…that Vampire! A monstrous Undead being that feeds on the living! Who knows how many this Human has sacrificed to slake her mistress’ thirst? Have you not considered that we will be included in that number when our people come to live here? Maybe this chief only appears to be Human – none of us are familiar with how they’re supposed to look or behave. She might be another Undead who considers us a future meal.”

“Enough.” Kesstris told them, “Ezsris is right: we cannot go back to the Great Lake, so we must do our best here. To falter will only make things worse. Our situation is still better than the hard times of years past when the tribes suffered from wars and seasons of starvation. If we are truly allowed to settle where we wish, our people that come here will quickly grow and thrive with the plenty that is clear to see. We will become a great tribe and, if we create many of the fish farms she is so interested in, perhaps she will not sacrifice too many of us to her bloodthirsty mistress.”