Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 7, Chapter 13

Winter's Crown: Act 7, Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Ilyshn’ish paced back and forth on the street before a manor marked with the number ‘4’ on the side of its gate, and the streetlamps cast several shadows from her form as she fretted about. Two Death Knights standing before the manor followed her movements with what appeared to be a bit more interest than she thought that Death Knights should probably have. Beyond the gate, the manor appeared well-lit, and one or two figures could be sensed moving within.

The building was the city manor of her new liege, Baroness Ludmila Zahradnik. If one made comparisons to the other noble manors nearby, they might say that it appeared just as welcoming, save for the two Death Knights looming at the entrance. Was it safe to go in, or wasn’t it? Human customs were hard enough to understand without such mixed signals being displayed.

She continued hovering around the entrance, divided between the idea that she would be able to enter in one piece or end up in several pieces on the street by attempting entry.

The day after receiving the message from the Adventurer Guild, the Human noble had run – literally run – back to E-Rantel. Ilyshn’ish was due to attend the Justice Dragon Dojo that same day, so she had gone on ahead on her own. Before she departed that morning, Baroness Zahradnik left her with instructions to report to her manor for ‘night lessons’.

Unlike other Humans, this one used a Ring of Sustenance in order to forego sleep. It wasn’t something that Ilyshn’ish would ever consider using her own for, but she supposed that mortals might want to make the most out of their pitifully brief lives.

The sound of light steps over the cobblestones alerted Ilyshn’ish to the approach of someone down the empty street. She turned her head towards the source of the sound and, after a minute, a Human female in unassuming robes appeared around the bend. Ilyshn’ish froze and waited for the approaching female to enter into one of the manors between them, or perhaps disappear into another lane, but she came all the way up the street.

The Human started when she nearly bumped into her.

“Oh! My apologies,” the Human said. “I didn’t notice you there – I suppose it’s been a long day.”

“I-it’s alright.”

She was about as weak as the average Human in the city, so there was no way she could have detected Ilyshn’ish from a distance in these conditions. The Human turned to enter the manor in front of them but stopped when one of the Death Knights raised its hand.

Ilyshn’ish awaited some horrible fate to be visited upon the fragile woman by the towering sentry, but the Human instead approached the Death Knights with a friendly-sounding ‘good evening’ and looked up as the one who had gestured leaned down towards her. After some incomprehensible exchange, the Death Knight pointed a wickedly gauntleted finger at Ilyshn’ish, and the woman turned around to face her.

“Do you have an appointment with House Zahradnik?” She asked.

“Yes…yes I do,” Ilyshn’ish answered. “Baroness Zahradnik told me to come here for night lessons.”

“Night lessons…” The Human looked her up and down, “I was not made aware of this, but I’ve been out since the morning. Might I have your name, miss…?”

“Shi–um, Dame Verilyn.”

The Human immediately lowered herself into a respectful curtsey.

“Please come with me, Dame Verilyn,” she said. “My name is Aemilia Luzi – Lady’s Maid of House Zahradnik.”

Ilyshn’ish fell in step behind Aemilia, gingerly padding by the pair of Death Knights at the gate. The Human did not seem to mind their presence at all.

“I didn’t recognize you as a maid, at first,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Your uniform is quite different from those of the others working around this district.”

“Ah, that’s because it’s not a maid uniform,” Aemilia replied. “These are the robes of an Acolyte. I’ve been studying at the cathedral for most of the day.”

This maid was a magic caster? Well, even the sheep were magic casters in the Baroness’ territory, so Ilyshn’ish supposed that it shouldn’t be a surprise.

She was led into the manor, where the maid bid her be seated in a room with two long couches placed on either side of a polished granite table. Ilyshn’ish had a sense for the layout of the central district’s manors, but it was the first time she had ever been in one. Though her surroundings exuded far more wealth than what she experienced in the common areas of the city, it had a spareness that made it appear less than what it could be. Another Human appeared, dressed in the uniform of a maid.

“I will inform my lady that you’ve arrived,” Aemilia lowered her head again. “Please feel free to inform Lisette if you require anything.”

Rather than interacting with the maid that was left to attend to her, Ilyshn’ish focused on discerning the layout of the manor through the various movements that sent vibrations through the building. Aside from Ilyshn’ish, Aemilia and Lisette, there were four more individuals present. She decided that the barely detectable one in the largest room on the second floor was Baroness Zahradnik.

The woman was something of a mystery to her. She acted in many strange ways that she treated as a matter of course, and it appeared that she expected Ilyshn’ish – no, it was as if she expected everyone to act within that framework. To be fair, it appeared to be exactly the case for the short time Ilyshn’ish had known her. Humans; Lizardmen; the Undead and even those murderous sheep all moved when she acted. Relative strength mattered not a whit.

Lady Zahradnik’s expectations applied to Ilyshn’ish as well, and she displayed very little in the way of impatience, anger, or excitement when it came to instruction. She just spoke, acted, and expected something out of Ilyshn’ish – something Ilyshn’ish had no clue about no matter how she tried to look at things.

She had cornered the Lizardman Chief at one point to ask him about the Human’s strange behaviour, but he could only answer that understanding would probably come with time and experience. Even though she was a Frost Dragon, who functioned in exactly that fashion, the answer annoyed her to no end. It was as if everyone was keeping some great secret from her.

Aemilia appeared in the room again after several minutes, adorned in a black-and-white maid uniform.

“Lady Zahradnik will see you in her solar now, Dame Verilyn,” she said. “Please follow me.”

Why were there so many steps to meeting with Lady Zahradnik when all they needed to do was go from the entrance of the manor to her room? As short-lived as they were, she thought Humans would be in more of a rush to do things with their time. Aemilia led her at a stately pace up the limestone stairs along an open-roofed space in the middle of the manor. Three doors down the hallway on the second floor, she was let into a room where the Human noble was seated at a modest desk, adorned in a silken green robe.

“I’ve brought Dame Verilyn, my lady,” Aemilia said.

Lady Zahradnik looked up from her work.

“Thank you, Miss Luzi,” she said, then turned her attention to Ilyshn’ish. “Dame Verilyn, we’ll be here all night, so would you like a meal or some refreshments? Tea, perhaps?”

“I-I don’t usually take Human food…”

“That might be a problem going forward,” Lady Zahradnik frowned, “is there something that prevents you from doing so? Is our food poisonous or inedible to your kind?”

“We just don’t prepare it the same way, I guess. Tea might be alright if it’s cold.”

Lady Zahradnik nodded towards Aemilia, who lowered her head before retreating from the room. The door shut silently behind her.

“Please make yourself comfortable, Ilyshn’ish,” Lady Zahradnik said as she put away the documents on her desk. “Rather than a formal lesson tonight, I’d like for us to get to know one another better.”

“Why are you so insistent on this?” Ilyshn’ish frowned, “I have absolutely no interest in being your pet!”

The Human noble moved over to where two cushioned chairs were placed at a small round table.

“Before that,” Lady Zahradnik replied as she gestured for Ilyshn’ish to be seated, “you’ve become my vassal. Don’t you think we should at least get along?”

“Is that something required of a vassal? I thought what mattered was our contract.”

“You’re right,” Lady Zahradnik admitted. “All that is required to retain your title is that we uphold the duties and obligations that we owe one another, as delineated by our contract. I have only my own experience and the knowledge of the past to draw from, but the sort of relationship you describe is most likely the normal way to go about things. It was like that when House Zahradnik was a part of Re-Estize as well: we were vassals of the King, but we barely saw our liege. It was more often that we interacted with the King’s proxy in this duchy. As long as we upheld our obligations to the King, we retained our titles – there was no need for anything like friendship.”

Aemilia reappeared with two Skeletons: each carrying their own tea set on a tray. The maid retrieved each in turn, laying them down on the table.

“Mrs Ro’eh was a bit confused about the request for cold tea,” Aemilia said as she poured out their drinks. “She ended up making a different sort of cold beverage that she picked up during her travels…I guess it’s something like cold herbal tea?”

A grassy scent rose from Ilyshn’ish’s teacup. It wasn’t an inherently enticing aroma to a carnivorous Dragon.

“We’ll take our time with this,” Lady Zahradnik told Aemilia. “You should get some rest – you have another early day at the cathedral tomorrow.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

After the lady’s maid shut the door behind her, Lady Zahradnik resumed speaking as she nursed her cup in hand.

“Perhaps you’re right, and I’m just being selfish. The life of a noble is a lonely one, and friends are few and far between.”

“I can’t really understand that,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Frost Dragons are solitary by nature. If you’re looking for companionship, then why not pick someone out amongst your fellow Humans?”

“I do have common acquaintances,” Lady Zahradnik replied, “and some I do consider friends…but they are not noble friends who can relate to a noble’s life. There is always a degree of separation between us because of this.”

“Then make some noble friends.”

“I’m trying to make one right now,” the Human noble smiled slightly. “I do have a small group of noble friends, but I’ve run out of avenues to pursue.”

“Why is that?” Ilyshn’ish asked.

“Simply put,” Lady Zahradnik answered, “the other nobles fear me. If I were trying to explain it at length…the duties of Frontier Nobles are distinctly different from that of regular Nobles. To them, we are as much of a threat as the threats that we protect them against. They’re comfortable with our existence when there is distance between us, but in person, well, you can probably sense how strong I am compared to the other Nobles in this district. Combined with my right to the legitimate use of violence, you might be able to see where that may lead the thoughts of others.”

Ilyshn’ish slowly nodded at her words. The other nobles that she had seen in the district were almost uniformly weak, indistinguishable from one another in terms of raw strength. Baroness Zahradnik could easily fight them all at once and win without taking much damage, if any.

“So something like prey animals when confronted by a powerful predator…”

“It’s not as if I have a desire to harm them,” Lady Zahradnik said, “but the feeling you describe is probably just that. I suppose they would not be wrong to think that way – I would be obliged to enforce His Majesty’s will should they run afoul of it.”

“I can’t imagine that they would do that,” Ilyshn’ish snorted. “The Sorcerer King has absurdly powerful minions; why would one ever think to oppose him if they are aware of this?”

“Some people are blind to the truth even when they are confronted by it,” Lady Zahradnik told her. “It’s barely been five months since the annexation of E-Rantel, so most of the nobles are somewhere between their initial fearfulness, confusion over their new reality, and busy trying to properly adopt the systems of the Sorcerous Kingdom. After a few years, some might grow complacent and pick up some undesirable habits…”

These other nobles were right to fear this one. Ilyshn’ish wondered if she should ever try anything in her new territory – accidentally doing something wrong might end up with her being hauled away by two dozen Death Knights and Elder Liches.

“Why aren’t the nobles you’ve befriended scared of you?” Ilyshn’ish asked.

“I’m fairly certain two of them still are,” Lady Zahradnik answered, “to some degree. The other one…well, let’s just say we grew up together.”

The Human paused to take a sip out of her tea, mulling over her own words.

“Wagner and Gagnier came to us for practical purposes, at first,” Lady Zahradnik said. “It wasn’t until we spent some time together that we all became friends.”

“You’re friends with Lady Wagner?” Ilyshn’ish peered at the Human across the table.

“You know her?”

“We’re something like acquaintances,” Ilyshn’ish said noncommittally, “I thought you were connected through Lady Shalltear when you mentioned her before.”

“It’s the other way around. Lady Shalltear was acquainted with my friends through me. They all have business related to her, and it seems that they’re all getting along well.”

“You’re getting along well with Lady Shalltear too, by all appearances. She’s mentioned you a few times, now that I’ve figured out who she was talking about.”

Ilyshn’ish wondered what sort of trials the Human had gone through to enter into Lady Shalltear’s good graces. Humans were so fragile…perhaps she was something like a body slave? Vampires consumed blood as well, so maybe she was just a convenient source of food that happened to be useful in other ways.

“Yes,” Lady Zahradnik smiled, “I truly appreciate the relationship that we share. It’s probably the main inspiration for trying to get along with you, I think. Now that I’ve experienced it, I’d rather the bond between liege and vassal be one of warm friendship and trust instead of a cold and sterile contract. I thought that it might be significant for Dragons as well since Dragons live for such a long time, but I might have just arbitrarily imposed my Human sensibilities upon you. If that’s the case, what do you value? The only thing I can think of from Human tales is a love for treasure.”

“That’s not wrong, but…well, as you say, Dragons live for a long time. I can’t speak for other kinds of Dragons, but Frost Dragons don’t have any real sense of urgency when it comes to what we want – at least not by a Human’s measure. If opportunities that align with our interests present themselves, then we act upon them. Otherwise, we don’t go out of our way to do anything: a slow and quiet life is best.”

“Lady Shalltear mentioned something about your desire to go out and explore the world,” Lady Zahradnik said. “That seems a bit at odds with what you’ve described. Your brother Hejinmal wanted to do something similar as well, if I recall correctly.”

“It’s something we picked up from our mother,” Ilyshn’ish told her. “She was a bit proactive in her own life and tried to encourage us to be more aggressive when it came to learning and figuring out advantages for ourselves. Still, it is subject to our nature. My original thought when it came to travelling the world was going to a place I settled on visiting, then staying for maybe a few decades before moving on. If I liked it there, I might stay for a few centuries.”

Ilyshn’ish finally decided to try a sip of the strange brew poured out for her. She spit it out immediately. It smelled like grass, but it tasted like a mouth full of pine needles. Once, when she was a small and hungry Wyrmling, she had tried to eat them: it wasn’t a pleasant memory.

“…that’s certainly not what Lady Shalltear had in mind,” Lady Zahradnik frowned. “Her thought was that you could investigate a nation over the course of a few months – maybe a year or more if it was required – before moving on.”

“If it’s what she demands of me, I can hardly refuse her. The Sorcerer King subjugated our people – I can only make the best of what opportunities come my way.”

Lady Zahradnik looked at her from across the table. After several moments, she finally released a long sigh, placing her cup on the table.

“This is far more difficult than I had imagined.”

“What is?”

“Carrying out the task that Lady Shalltear assigned to me,” Lady Zahradnik replied. “I can instruct you in noble customs, proper etiquette and matters of law and order, but how can I instil value in feal service when you don’t even appear to consider any cause but your own? At best, you can go through the motions and keep your head down, but that is not what Lady Shalltear desires – nor do I – in a vassal. Is there nothing beyond personal motive that drives you?”

What sort of question was that? For the first time in Ilyshn’ish’s memory, Lady Zahradnik allowed hints of frustration to leak out of her voice, so she must have been serious about the strange notions that she spouted forth.

“As you so astutely pointed out earlier,” Ilyshn’ish pointed out, “You may be imposing your Human sensibilities upon me. Acting for personal motives is completely respectable for a Frost Dragon.”

“I heard that your father’s ambition was the creation of a Frost Dragon nation.”

“A nation?” Ilyshn’ish blinked, “I think you’re doing that Human thing again. His goal was to increase our fighting strength in order to finally topple our Frost Giant rivals. His assumption was that he would be able to stay on top after that. He might have done so for a few centuries – even a millennium – but one of his rivals would get him eventually.”

“The Frost Giants were your only rivals in the Azerlisia Mountains,” Lady Zahradnik frowned. “Who would be left to challenge you?”

“‘Challenge you?’” Ilyshn’ish tilted her head, “I think you’re missing a crucial point here. All Frost Dragons are rivals with other Frost Dragons. If not his mates, then one of his descendants would have ousted him.”

“You would kill your own father?”

“It is only proper,” Ilyshn’ish replied with a nod. “Leaving such a powerful individual around after taking the seat of power is a senselessly foolish risk.”