Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 7, Chapter 7

Winter's Crown: Act 7, Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ilyshn’ish frowned down at the file handed over to her by her new ‘agent’ as she wandered through the streets of the central district. Within was a map showing the location of her new assignment, a brief overview of Lady Shalltear's expectations, and a new notebook.

Supposedly, she was being assigned there to be mentored by another of Lady Shalltear's subordinates in a variety of subjects that did not look very interesting at all. Maybe they meant something entirely different from what she knew? It happened sometimes, usually to her own chagrin.

Eventually she found herself at the postal office in the Demihuman Quarter – why did she always end up here? – and exchanged her greetings with the counter staff before heading through the warehouse and up to the top of the wall. Since she was here, she should probably check if Hejinmal had discovered anything interesting out of the books she had left with him.

Rather than being shut into his room like usual, his head was sticking out of it, facing away from her.

“What are–”

“Hiiiieeee!”

Her brother's head jerked up in fright, then swiveled towards her. She backhanded him in the jaw before he bowled her over. Hejinmal’s eyes swirled for a moment before focusing on her.

“You must have sensed me coming from at least the entrance, brother.”

“I sensed someone,” Hejinmal replied, “but I had no idea it was you. Besides, you just spoke up all of the sudden like that–”

“Preposterous,” Ilyshn'ish snorted. “No true Dragon would be frightened by that. If you don’t shape up in various ways, you’re going to have trouble winning a female for yourself.”

Hejinmal was slowly becoming more fit in appearance, but the way he carried himself was still sorely lacking. That such a timid individual was her brother did not sit well with her. Maybe a word with Lady Aura would fix that.

“A female…” Hejinmal frowned, “for me? No, wait, more importantly, something is going on with mother.”

Ilyshn’ish blinked at his words, then she waved her hand dismissively.

“I hardly think that anything could happen to her,” she said. “Unless…did she draw Lady Shalltear’s ire somehow?"

“No, no, it’s nothing like that…”

“Then what?”

“It started recently,” Hejinmal told her. “A gentleman has been visiting her.”

“What!”

“Shh! He comes by around this time of the day–w-what are you doing? This is my room, you know…”

“Shh!”

Ilyshn’ish poked her head out from the door of Hejinmal’s room, eyeing the way to her mother’s room.

“What colour is he?” She asked after several minutes of nothing happening.

“Colour? Why do you have to–ow! White! He’s white, or close to it.”

Ilyshn’ish nodded silently to herself at Hejinmal's answer. Various calculations started forming in her head.

“Sister…could it be that you’re trying to get your claws on him…”

“Yes? I’m not strong enough to directly challenge mother yet, but I can still grab him after she’s done.”

“Now that just sounds wrong,” Hejinmal made a face. “Besides, didn’t you just lay your eggs, sister?”

“What’s wrong with it, brother?” Ilyshn’ish sniffed at a new scent that wafted through the hall, “If he’s not related to us, then he’s fair game. Anyways, I just need to know how to find him the next time I’m good and ready…is he any good, by the way?”

“Good…” Hejinmal sighed, “Sister, I don’t think–”

A serpentine figure appeared at the opposite entrance. It was white, but…

“Hejinmal,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Is that the ‘gentleman’?”

“Yes, sister,” Hejinmal replied.

“He’s not even a Dragon!” Ilyshn’ish hissed up at him, “Why do you keep doing this to me?”

“M-me? Aren’t you the one always jumping to conclusions?”

“What else would I think if mother was ‘seeing a gentleman’? This is the second time you’ve done this, brother!”

The Naga’s tail disappeared into Kilistran’s quarters, and the door shut softly behind him. Ilyshn’ish withdrew with a sigh, back into Hejinmal’s room. She found a nice looking chair in one corner and took a seat.

“Wait…why is there a chair in here?”

The bookshelves made sense. The chair did not. Was he learning some method to change his appearance?

“It’s Lady Aura’s chair, " Hejinmal told her. "Sometimes she comes by to see me."

“See you…ah, because you’re her pet.”

Ilyshn’ish leaned back over the chair and stretched, letting out a tired noise. She examined the titles lined up on the shelves.

“I am, but you don’t have to make it sound like that!”

Hejinmal’s offended tone gave Ilyshn’ish pause. Could it be that he actually liked being a pet?

“How else am I supposed to react?” Ilyshn’ish straightened and crossed her arms, “My big brother was turned into a pet – I feel mortified by association! How does that even happen, anyways?”

“It just did! I had no say in it. It’s just as I said before: His Majesty just told Lady Aura ‘I’ll give you this Dragon’, and that was that.”

Ilyshn’ish crinkled her nose up at her brother before deciding that his situation wasn’t worth thinking about. She rose to her feet, sticking a hand into her Infinite Haversack as she walked up to the bookshelves.

“I’m being reassigned, brother,” she told him as she added several recent purchases to an empty shelf.

“Reassigned? In what way?”

“A new residence,” Ilyshn’ish answered, “Some place not far south. I’ve never been there before, but the Vampire Bride said…mmh, have you heard about these agents that they’ve set over us?”

“I don't think they’ve been set over us,” Hejinmal said. “They’re more like helpers…or maybe something like a liaison? They check to see if there’s anything we need, what sort of things we’d like, delivering news and updates on the things we’re interested in – they’ll even go into the city and pick things up for us.”

Her own ‘agent’ had done no such thing: all she received from her was orders.

“It sounds as if they’re just trying to keep everyone docile.”

“You’re always so cynical, sister,” Hejinmal told her. “It’s not as if they need to do all this. They could have kept us in those pens from before and flew us around endlessly without breaks. I don’t think this new room is bad at all.”

Compared to the rooms in the Dwarven Palace that they had lived in for the last century, this one was roughly the same size, but inferior in craftsmanship despite also being constructed by Dwarves. Aside from the bookshelves and the chair, the rest of its contents were decidedly lacking. There was, well, pretty much nothing else…except for a single small object in the middle of the floor.

“Why is there a gold coin on the floor, brother?”

“Why else would there be a gold coin on the floor, sister?”

Ilyshn’ish’s soul recoiled in pity, and her hands went up to hide her face.

“Are you telling me that you’re sleeping on a single gold coin?” Her voice quivered, “That’s so sad! You’re going to make your sister cry, Hejinmal.”

“I-i-it’s a start!” Hejinmal’s claws came up in a consoling gesture, “Besides, our parents never let us keep any coins back at our own place!”

“I know,” Ilyshn’ish sniffed, “but only having one somehow makes it so much more lonely!”

“We’re getting paid now, so it will change, yes? Please don’t cry, sister…”

Ilyshn’ish peeked up at him from between her fingers.

“How much are you getting paid?”

“They said something about a rate based on something…maybe it was by route? Also, courier jobs pay more since they’re worth more. I don’t think anyone has voiced any complaints over it – it’s a steady, safe job and we’ll be able to slowly build up our hoards in the process. We have unlimited time to work and collect more.”

It wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand where Hejinmal was coming from, but, after observing Human society on and off for two months, it felt as if Dragons were just being slowly bent to Human ways. Their insidious systems were an excellent way to integrate lower species with minimal fuss, but she never wanted to end up in that position herself. Trying to figure out a way to stay out of that mess and remain standing above the rest was an ongoing investigation.

“Let me know how that works out for you, I suppose,” Ilyshn’ish said noncommittally. “I need to get going and figure out where this new place is. I’ve left some books on the Empire here – Lady Shalltear wants me to start visiting places there soon, so try and find some useful information for me.”

“I’ll see what I can do…does that mean we’ll have some routes to the Empire soon? The Dwarves had most of their dealings with them, so I’d like to see what’s been mentioned in their records some day.”

“Some day, probably. How soon would depend on Lady Shalltear.”

They exchanged their farewells, and Ilyshn’ish walked out onto an open section of the wall as she examined the map that was provided to her. A good portion of it was familiar, as it covered the lands that she crossed over to unknowingly deliver supplies to the Adventurer camp some time ago. Her destination was at the end of the valley that she had seen south of there.

Nodding silently and putting away the file, she returned to her Dragon self and took off into the rainy night. Inclement weather meant little to Frost Dragons, affecting neither her ability to fly nor the visibility of her surroundings. The world below, however, had slowed to a crawl: the busy night markets turning subdued and the few travelers willing to brave the weather carefully picking their way over the slick stones of the highways.

The rain tapered off as she crossed over the northernmost point of the southern ranges that could be seen from E-Rantel, and she descended to take in its features more closely. The mountains here were perhaps half as tall as those in the Azerlisia ranges, and lacking in icefields or glaciers. Above the treeline was an abundance of small lakes and vibrant alpine meadows. Her keen draconic senses detected movement below.

Sheep? I haven’t had sheep for a while…

Her people were allowed to hunt in the Azerlisia Mountains and the Great Forest of Tob; could they hunt here as well? The mountains bore no sign of any structures or tribal habitation. The sheep below went back and forth, tickling her hunter’s instincts. They didn’t look like they were anyone’s livestock – it probably wouldn’t hurt to take one.

Ilyshn’ish circled lazily overhead until she picked out a particularly fat one standing exposed on an outcropping. It didn’t quite look like the Mountain sheep that could be found in the Azerlisia Mountains, but she supposed that it might just be a different species. She folded her wings, angling straight down towards her prey.

Rather than scatter, a dozen or so of the mountain sheep started to converge on the individual she was diving upon. That was strange…

“?Inferno?.”

The sheep bleated a spell, and Ilyshn’ish’s world burst into flame.

She cried out, snapping her wings open to abruptly level off and gain altitude again. Her mind was a panicked jumble and she kept turning her head to look over her burning form as she flapped about frantically.

I’m on fire! What should I do? It burns! It hurts! It…doesn’t hurt?

It didn’t hurt, and her body wasn’t burning away. Why was that? She recalled the Greater Ring of Fire Resistance that had been issued to every Frost Dragon in the transportation network, including herself. The amount of damage caused by the spell that was afflicting her did not exceed the threshold of damage reduction conferred by the ring.

Ilyshn’ish let out an evil laugh.

“Useless!” She mocked the sheep below, “I fear not your paltry flames! Now witness the wrath of the fiery Frost Dragon!”

She folded her wings again for another dive, descending towards the peak like a blazing comet. The sheep below only looked back up at her. A sense of imminent danger filled her awareness.

“?Call Thunder?.”

She swerved slightly, and a bolt of lightning flashed down through her former flight path. It blasted a scorch mark onto the mountain face below.

Huh?

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

Ilyshn’ish evaded madly, desperately trying to avoid being struck by lightning. What sort of insane individual would teach sheep tier magic?

Her pained gasp filled the air as a bolt scored a painful line over one of her wings, then a hole was punched through the other. She dove to pick up speed, quickly distancing herself from the dreadful sheep. Then her breath caught in her throat as more of them appeared ahead.

They fly? What sort of insane place is this? Why are the sheep flying and casting tier magic?

“P-please leave me alone!”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Call Thunder?.”

She continued her panicked descent, picking up velocity. Her only hope was to get through the gauntlet of these hellish sheep as quickly as possible. The ones she passed, however, descended after her.

They’re chasing me? Sheep are chasing a Dragon? This is a dream right? In no sane world do sheep chase Dragons around!

“?Call Thunder?.”

“Hiiiieeee!”

She was running out of sky. Below, the wide river filled her vision. Ilyshn’ish leveled out again, streaking past the next set of murderous flying sheep.

“?Call Thunder?.”

“?Web?.”

“What!”

“?Web?.”

Sticky filaments bound themselves to her wings, and she struggled to maintain flight. She couldn’t get away like this. Folding her wings tightly to her sides, she plunged into the river.

T-they don’t swim, do they? Please tell me they don’t swim.

Above the surface, she could sense the murky impressions of dozens of sheep hovering over the river like a swarm of angry hornets. After a minute, none joined her underwater. Good, they didn’t swim. Ilyshn’ish made her way upstream, trying to figure out where she was. She should be close – she recalled a hill with dwellings of some sort near where she had entered the river.

All at once, the presence of the sheep vanished, disappearing up into the sky above. She cautiously poked her head out of the water.

“That was quite the entrance,” a familiar voice chimed out over the water. “As expected of a talented Bard.”