Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 3, Chapter 12

Winter's Crown: Act 3, Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“M-my lady, there’s so much blood…”

“I think I have this figured out now, but get another towel, just in case.”

“Aiiieee…I can’t watch this!”

Ludmila watched the crimson trickle run down her forearm, wrist and off of her pinky finger. Aemilia came and left a towel on the desk, pointedly looking away from the scene as she did so, before scurrying off again. She wasn’t sure why her maid was perfectly fine with watching her fight the Lizardman at the Great Lake, yet had become so squeamish with what she was currently doing.

There was a decanter below Ludmila’s hand, slowly filling with her blood. It was a magical container, originally meant for storing drinks that could spoil, enchanted with both a Preservation effect and one that maintained the temperature of its content. If it could keep anything from water to wine to fruit drinks icy and fresh, Ludmila figured it could also store blood and keep it warm. She didn’t know for certain, however. After asking about it in uncomfortably roundabout ways, she finally decided to give it a try.

There were several troubles along the way – such as keeping the cut on her arm open and trying to figure out how to get it to flow into the decanter properly – but things now appeared to be working reasonably well.

“A-are you sure about this, my lady?” Aemilia asked from where she stood at a distance, “I don’t think people are supposed to bleed that much – or at all.”

“I’ve seen people lose far more than this and still be perfectly fine after a bit of rest,” she replied. “Besides, the first time didn’t feel bad at all.”

Blood continued to flow into the decanter. They were able to fill it earlier that morning and, as she had mentioned, there were no apparent ill effects. She quaffed a healing potion just in case, which then resulted in the blood mysteriously disappearing from the decanter. Unable to figure out why that was, she had no choice but to try again. This time, she would just use an ointment that would allow the cut to heal quickly without scarring.

She supposed that the mere fact that she was doing something like this would strike nearly anyone as odd. After receiving special dispensation from the Royal Court that allowed her to create laws in her demesne for species with unique predator/prey relationships, she drew one up for the Krkonoše so that they could continue their ways within the bounds of her territory. After that, she started thinking about whether there were any other potential areas unique laws along those lines might be applied, and that thinking eventually led to Lady Shalltear.

Her liege was a Vampire, after all. When they were together, Lady Shalltear would always eventually draw close to her, lightly touching her from time to time or grasping her arm. When they sat down to work on one thing or another, she would bring her seat near to Ludmila and eventually start leaning in close. At first, she thought that Lady Shalltear was just the warm and affectionate type, much like Clara was. After altering her perspective, Ludmila considered it possible that she was actually thirsty. Maybe it was both.

The idea that she might actually be torturing her Vampire liege through their interactions was not something that had crossed her mind before, and guilt started to pile upon her. And so, resolving that she should at least try to do something about it, she went out and bought the enchanted decanter after some research on how they worked.

Watching her blood slowly drain away, Ludmila organized her thoughts for the upcoming day. After the long days of Adventurer training in E-Rantel, Lord Mare had allowed her to keep both the Ring of Sustenance and the magical collar with the idea that it would help her do more work for the Sorcerous Kingdom. That they seemed so common made Ludmila wonder if her friends could be spared the rings as well. Clara, at least, would greedily snap up such a handy item.

Ludmila used the trip back up the river as an opportunity to sleep, so everything she needed to organize beforehand had been done the night she arrived in Warden’s Vale. The surveyors for the new Lizardman tribe arrived yesterday, and she needed to make sure that they understood what she desired out of them.

Lord Mare would arrive in a few days to reshape the land for the next farming village, so she needed to make some last-minute checks there as well. She had yet to hear anything new on the Adventurer Guild’s training expedition, but she would be able to ask about it when he came. The first two members of Zurrernorn would be arriving at some point in the week by way of the river: she would need to ensure that they would comply with the laws of the realm, then preparations for their workshop would have to be discussed.

As for everything else, the borders were secure with no reported disturbances, the Krkonoše were slowly trickling in, and the summer harvest was well underway. The regular operations of her demesne were advancing according to schedule, so all that was left was to study her materials, train, make the occasional patrol, and wait for problems to address between various appointments. Freeing up so much time with the Ring of Sustenance was surely a wonderful thing.

When the volume of blood reached the base of the decanter’s slim neck, Ludmila took a clean cloth from the desk, pressing it to the cut on her forearm. She stoppered the crystal container and waited for anything strange to happen to its crimson content. After several minutes with no change, she decided that the idea was working so far, and went about dressing her wound.

A rapping sound issued from the door. Aemilia came out to answer, and Ludmila picked up the decanter, heading to the back of the manor to lock it away. She hoped that her idea would be useful to Lady Shalltear – anticipation was already starting to build up over her liege’s reaction.

Returning to the hall, she found the Chief of the Lizardmen awaiting her. She stepped in behind her desk, placing a hand lightly upon its worn wooden surface. Then they stood unmoving across from one another in silence.

Ludmila saw Aemilia out of the corner of her eye: she was trying to glare a hole into the Lizardman. Lady Shalltear said that Lord Cocytus was trying to instil some etiquette into the Lizardmen, but perhaps this one hadn’t taken too well to it. He had not introduced himself before their duel, either. Then again, she wasn’t sure what their regular customs were, nor did she know how to read their expressions.

“Good Morning, Chief Esess,” she said.

“Ah,” he seemed to come to life again, “yes, good morning, Chief. I’ve come as you’ve ordered.”

Chief Esess promptly answered, as if spurred to reply by her words. His tone did not seem to hold any disrespect or ill-will, however – perhaps he was just unpracticed.

“How did you find the conditions overnight?” She asked.

“This valley appears to be at a higher altitude than the Great Lake,” Chief Esess answered, “and its depth limits some of the daylight, so it’s cooler than we are used to at this time of year.”

“Are Lizardmen sensitive to temperature? Will it be a problem for your families?”

“Muu…with shelter, it will not be too bad, I think. If we build good homes over the water, the temperature will be warmer, and more stable,” he appeared to ponder after he spoke. “This place…how cold will it become in winter?”

“Snows will cover the mountains, passes and highlands around the Vale during the winter,” she told him. “The bottom of the valley sometimes sees snow, but it never gets cold enough to stay.”

The Lizardman chief was silent for a while, and Ludmila glanced out the window beside her desk. Outside, there was a smaller, black-scaled Lizardman that appeared far more energetic than the one in the hall with her. Her tail was waving sinuously about as she looked around, and the villagers were doing their best to not get distracted from their work. She turned back to look at Chief Esess, who continued to ponder.

“Will this be an issue?” Ludmila spoke into the silence.

“I’m not sure,” the chief looked down. “At the foot of the Azerlisia Mountains, the Great Lake sees cool winters, but snow is a rare event. Past Travellers have claimed that it becomes warmer the further south one goes, so I thought it may be the case here…”

“This is true,” Ludmila said, “but we are not that far south. Warden’s Vale is roughly 150 Kilometres southeast of the Great Lake.”

“Truly?” He tilted his head, “The Sorcerous Kingdom is a mighty nation, so I thought we would be sent to some distant land.”

Ludmila smiled inwardly. Considering how powerful it was, the Sorcerous Kingdom would certainly be thought of as some vast empire rather than a single duchy by almost anyone. In all of her interactions with the members of the Royal Court, she could never get a sense of where else it might be present beyond E-Rantel.

“Well, in our case,” Ludmila told him, “it only takes about a day and a half to get to E-Rantel by way of the river, and E-Rantel is only about three days by wagon to the Great Lake. You can get there quite easily if you have a need, Chief Esess.”

“I see…” He looked back up at her, “I am curious, however: why do you call me chief? You are our new chief, no?”

“I am serving as your liege, but I am not your ‘Chief’ in that sense. Lord Cocytus chose you to lead the immigrants, yes?”

“But I was defeated by you in a ritual challenge…”

She furrowed her brow over his confusion.

“I suppose I should explain how Human lands work,” she said. “If I understand it correctly, your tribes were brought together under the leadership of Lord Cocytus to live in a single village?”

“That is correct, chief – I mean, er…”

“In Human lands at large, the initial form of address with titled persons is by their title,” she explained, “and ‘my lady’ will suffice for me after that. Warden’s Vale is the name by which my territory has become known, but the title is actually Zahradnik – House Zahradnik is the name of those whose members tamed this land.”

“So…Lady Zahradnik? Then my lady.”

“That’s right,” Ludmila smiled slightly. “Now, how does one address a Lizardman chief?”

“Just ‘Chief’ usually…my lady.”

“Then it is the same as small Human settlements,” she said. “Are there other positions of importance? Those responsible for organizing various portions of your tribes?”

“There are the heads who represent important groups – the High Priestess, the Head Warrior, the Head Hunter – and also the Elders.”

“How large were your tribal villages before Lord Cocytus gathered them together?”

“My own – the Green Claw tribe – had around four hundred, including children.”

“I see…your villages are much larger: around the size of a small Human town. Human villages do not have a need beyond the Chief and a handful of Elders, but Human towns have a mayor and his advisors.”

Ludmila turned to look out of the window, gazing out over the floodplain. If what she saw at the Great Lake was an accurate representation of what could be supported in an area, Warden’s Vale would be able to accommodate thousands of Lizardmen in the future.

“Tell me, Chief Esess,” she asked as she glanced around to find the Lizardman that had been wandering around, “if you were to conjure the image of a perfect Lizardman village in your mind, what would it be like?”

“Muuu…” His tail twitched slightly, “A perfect village…a thousand would be considered prosperous. With the new fish farms, there would be no starvation.”

“Anything else?”

“I feel that we would be happy with this,” Chief Esess replied, “as long as our families are safe.”

The Chief seemed to consider little more than security, numbers and food, with no mention of industries, services or trade. Though exposed to the undeniably advanced Sorcerous Kingdom for much longer than the Humans of E-Rantel – nearly a year, if the accounts she heard were correct – the Lizardmen carried the basic outlook of many primitive Demihuman tribes, who were satisfied with subsistence, out in the wilderness. Unless they bred quite rapidly, Chief Esess’ vision of a prosperous ‘village’ was a far off future.

Lord Cocytus’ desires for the Lizardmen appeared to be far more than this. He made attempts at teaching them proper protocol and instilling a warrior code into them. Ludmila wasn’t sure if it was by Lord Cocytus’ request, but Lady Shalltear had purposely included their village at the Great Lake as a link in the aerial transportation network as well. If they were to be integrated fully into the Sorcerous Kingdom, able to make tangible contributions of their own, then Ludmila supposed that her job would be to not only ensure their survival under her rule but to organize them in some productive and advantageous way.

The first thing she thought would be required was to lay out some sort of groundwork that allowed them to mesh well with her style of governance, as well as figure out ways to qualify their inherent advantages.

“I am certain that a village of a thousand will not be a problem, Chief Esess,” Ludmila told him, “but that number seems quite a ways away unless your people are naturally fecund.”

“Ehm…yes, my lady,” he paused awkwardly for a moment, “no – I meant our families are not overly large. A thousand would take generations – even the village at the Great Lake barely has that number. The tribes had many more, once, but in the war last year, and in the hard times of the past, hundreds perished.”

“In that case,” she said, “we will ensure that your village is ready to take advantage of what the Sorcerous Kingdom has to offer before then. Lord Cocytus has charged me with your growth and development, so I will be ensuring that the appropriate measures are taken to secure a valued place for your people in our nation.”

“Erh…” The chief’s tail went limp.

“Though your priorities will lie with directing the survey work for now, you will also be learning how the various structures of the Sorcerous Kingdom function, and we can explore the ways that your people may integrate with them.”

“Structures?” He stared at her.

“Yes,” she nodded. “Structures. The government, economy and the many national and private institutions that exist in our nation. As a leader of your people, it will be important to understand how they each affect them.”

“Muu…”

“Muu?”

Chief Esess brought a clawed hand to his nose, scratching it lightly.

“I, er…haven’t sent the Hunters to start their work yet,” he said. “Please allow me to go out and get them started.”

“Of course,” Ludmila smiled. “I will come with you as well. We can begin our work while you oversee your surveyors.”