Winter's Crown: Act 2, Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The work with the Dwarven migration continued for weeks, and Ilyshn’ish no longer considered their work slavery – it was nowhere near as nice a thing as that.

While the Vampire Brides posted at every office had a sort of cordial working relationship with the Frost Dragons, she felt that, as a whole, they were all simply used as livestock with a convenient set of traits rather than anything like a sort of skilled and intelligent slave. They were simply exploited for everything they had, with little regard for anything. They didn’t need to eat due to their accessories, so they worked. There was no sickness and injuries just regenerated, so they worked. Active Dragons did not need sleep in the first place, so they worked. All of the natural advantages of their kind – their strength, speed, resilience and endurance – had become a curse rather than a blessing.

The Quagoa slaves that the Frost Dragons kept during Olasird’arc’s reign were at least granted relative freedom when not set to various tasks: they were allowed to send their people wherever they pleased in the mountains, waging wars and expanding their quaint little empire – basically everything was allowed as long as they paid their dues and did not challenge the authority of their masters.

On the other hand, Ilyshn’ish’s life delivering parcels back and forth was nothing but pure drudgery: an endless schedule that spared them no reprieve on the job and little freedom. They were allowed a single day to reassemble their wits in whatever cramped accommodations could be found for them. At all other times, they were flying back and forth endlessly on their routes: all day and all night for a week straight.

No, not even livestock was treated like this. It was more like they were being treated like the Undead servitors that pulled cargo overland in a similar manner…or perhaps like the unfeeling, lifeless constructs that the Dwarves had once employed to defend their royal palace in Feoh Berkana.

Maybe working us to death is the actual goal.

Ilyshn’ish mulled over this idea for a minute or two: it probably wouldn’t happen, given the ubiquitous trappings of efficiency that they had all been equipped with. They had been simply made as close to Undead as possible, and ruthlessly worked in the same fashion. With Hejinmal as insufferably upbeat as he was due to his ‘condition’, Ilyshn’ish wanted to ask her other brood mates how they felt about the whole arrangement. Since the problems of the first day, however, they never stopped for long enough for other flights to catch up to them.

She brooded darkly on the wall of the Feoh Jura outpost beside her brother, thinking about the upcoming ‘day off’ that would be arriving shortly. The first two of these days had been in makeshift sheds set up in this same outpost, amidst the hustle and bustle of everything. Sleep was impossible and she was barred entry into the Dwarf city, so the entire day was spent staring mindlessly at the endless procession of Dwarves and their cargo being moved out of the city and onwards to Feoh Berkana.

“Have I lost weight, sister?” Hejinmal asked while posing and sucking in his gut.

“A bit,” Ilyshn’ish replied absently, flicking a chunk of ice off of the wall with a foreclaw.

“Oh, that’s great! Perhaps we could celebrate with some deer or elk or nuk–”

“No.”

“B-but we haven’t eaten for weeks! This can’t be healthy.”

“Healthy?” Ilyshn’ish forced herself to look at Hejinmal’s corpulent form, “At this rate, we’ll need to starve you for another year or so before you even look remotely healthy.”

“Eh…”

“Come to think of it,” she added, “I should just stop throwing so many enchantments on you. That way you’ll melt off more of that fat faster. Even with us getting quicker over these past few weeks, all it results in is more work anyways. Lady Shalltear was giving us that funny look again when we nearly overtook the flight ahead of us last time.”

Hard work, as she had discovered, merely resulted in more work. Initially, they had been assigned with a rather languid schedule due to their dismal expectations for Hejinmal’s performance. It was so infuriatingly slow that she used her magic to assume a more sane pace. She reasoned that, since they would come in ahead of schedule, they would have longer breaks between each delivery…yet, within a day, they had been moved to the regular schedule that all of the other Frost Dragons were using.

Lady Shalltear had a calculating look on her face just before this happened, then she had come before them personally with a beaming smile on her face that looked far too nice.

“Your duties have been expanded,” the Vampire told them, “isn’t that wonderful?”

Another Infinite Haversack was strapped onto her, and Lady Shalltear looked up like she had just bestowed a medal on a hero. Now, Lady Shalltear had that calculating look on her face again. What sort of insane person would be happy about being burdened with additional labours? She needed to scale down the enchantments on Hejinmal before her ‘duties’ were ‘expanded’ once more.

A Vampire Bride appeared from behind a nearby snowdrift, followed by the two others who usually brought new cargo to be delivered. Ilyshn’ish peered at the procession suspiciously. From seeing E-Rantel, Feoh Berkana, and Feoh Jura, she understood that each post manned by representatives of the delivery service had exactly three Vampire Brides. One attended to the clients that came to drop off or pick up their orders at the front desk; also taking care of general administrative matters. The remaining two usually worked in the background, organizing inventories, tending to the Frost Dragons and sending various parcels on their way.

Whenever the Vampire Bride posted at the front desk came to the back, it meant that something was wrong – or something was changing. Ilyshn’ish eyed her warily: unwelcome and unexpected change was usually a Frost Dragon’s worst enemy.

“Congratulations,” the Vampire Bride receptionist beamed up at her. “Your duties have been expanded.”

Ilyshn’ish sighed.

“Congratulations, sister!” Hejinmal joined in and looked over to the Vampire Bride excitedly, “What does she get?”

“Based on our review of your performance,” the Vampire Bride replied, “we’ve decided to put you on the supply run between E-Rantel and Feoh Berkana. Initially, we set a trio of other Dragons to the task, but the two of you will deliver far more over time by comparison. This delivery needs to be dropped off at Feoh Raizo first, after which you will continue on to E-Rantel where you will spend your day off before assuming the new route. You mentioned that you knew where all the Dwarf cities here were, yes?”

"I’ve been there several times,” Ilyshn’ish replied, “but I highly doubt Hejinmal will fit into that pathetic hole in the wall.”

Unlike the three other Dwarf cities, their outposts long ago links in a major trade route between the once-thriving Human lands on either side of the Azerlisia Mountains, Feoh Raizo was originally established as an out-of-the-way mining settlement that shipped its products to feed the industry of Feoh Berkana. Its buildings were designed simply: for utility, with no thought towards replicating the grand architecture that could be observed in the capital of the Dwarf Kingdom. The city was treated solely as a place that housed and serviced those excavating the rich veins of ore in the area; therefore a surface presence was unneeded.

With the Quagoa no longer a threat, the more convenient underground routes between Feoh Raizo and the Dwarf cities to the north were free to be used again in relative safety, so all of the traffic would resume on the old subterranean highways. The only way in through the surface was through a fissure in the icy mountainside, followed by a series of passages that eventually led down to the city itself.

“The arrangements have already been seen to,” the Vampire Bride told her. “A temporary office for our service has been raised outside, in front of the passage leading to Feoh Raizo.”

The two other Vampire Brides finished fastening their delivery and stepped back to stand with the receptionist.

“Have a safe journey,” they said in unison.

Ilyshn’ish took off from the wall of the trading outpost, followed by Hejinmal. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched a Frost Giant on an outcropping not a kilometre away observe their departure. The local tribe appeared to be getting bolder. With the last of the spring storms receding and impatience over returning to their capital mounting, the Dwarves with fewer possessions were starting to travel in increasing numbers on foot, presenting a slow and soft target for swift mountain raiders. The caravans with the Soul Eaters were more than strong enough to repel what she had seen gather so far, but there was more than enough time to attack the Dwarves travelling independently between them.

“How far is Feoh Raizo?” Hejinmal asked as they levelled off.

“Two hours away, at this rate,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “We’ll need to be careful on the way down: we won’t have all this traffic keeping things distracted and at a distance, so there could be ambushes and such set up for us since we’ve been so reliably operating on this nice and predictable schedule.”

“Y-you mean they’re back?” Her brother tried looking in all directions at once again.

“What do you mean ‘they’re back’?” She said incredulously, “They never left! There are probably three times as many now.”

“Really? I didn’t notice.”

“I’m beginning to think that you won’t notice anything unless you’re so close that your Blindsight picks it up.”

“But then it’d be too late?” Hejinmal frowned.

“That’s my point!” Ilyshn’ish snapped as she peered down at the peaks ahead, “Far from being safe, this ‘service’ makes us so ridiculously vulnerable that I’m fairly certain you’ll just get eaten by something one of these days.”

With an irritated scowl, Ilyshn’ish tucked in her wings, abruptly diving towards an outcropping of rock a thousand metres below.

“Sister?” Hejinmal’s voice floated down weakly after her.

Her silent descent ended at a stand of trees, where she yanked an oblivious Frost Giant off of the ground, using her momentum to hurl it out from the mountainside. The Frost Giant gave a long cry as she fell to the rocks far below, bouncing several times off of the cliff face along the way. The massive form smashed into the ground, sliced open by the jagged reception of a rocky gulch, innards spilling out everywhere on impact.

“See?” Ilyshn’ish said as she levelled out after ascending back to join her shocked brother, “They’re all over the place…though these ones have been so preoccupied with looking down at everything that’s going on they don’t bother looking up anymore. Those that are actually a challenge won’t be so oblivious.”

“Erm…considering you just killed one of them, won’t they come for revenge?” Hejinmal stared down at the remains of the Frost Giant.

“Revenge? I suppose if there was some personal stake involved – if any of the others even noticed. No one would waste time and effort seeking vengeance for an easily-killed idiot, however.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly true, but the few times she had been confronted by a vengeful Frost Giant over such an idiot, they had been an idiot as well. It wasn’t very hard to dispatch such empty-headed opponents.

“I guess you’re the expert here, sister. By the way: if a Frost Giant got me, would you come to seek revenge?”

Ilyshn’ish rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be an idiot, brother.”

They carried on in silence and, about an hour and a half later, they were circling over the entrance of Feoh Raizo. Ilyshn’ish carefully examined the landscape below: an impromptu outpost had been constructed out of packed snow and piled stones gathered from the surroundings. The same flag she had seen fluttering from the towers of E-Rantel rose over the windswept highland moor. In the shadows of the ridge looming over the entrance of the Dwarf city skulked yet another Frost Giant, who seemed intent on observing the proceedings on the ground.

Ilyshn'ish glowered down at the figure.

“Do they not see them or do they just not care?” She muttered.

“What about?” Hejinmal asked.

“There’s another one of those giants over the fissure leading into Feoh Raizo,” Ilyshn’ish answered.

“Giant?” Hejinmal squinted down, “Fissure?”

“I can’t believe you, brother,” Ilyshn’ish sighed. “That fissure isn’t even trying to hide.”

Well, she certainly didn’t want a Frost Giant staring straight down at her while she was on the ground. A few minutes later, it came plummeting down, landing right beside a group of Dwarves who jumped up with startled shouts at the impact. Ilyshn’ish landed over its broken form, throwing up clouds of drifting snow over the rocky landscape.

The Vampire Bride waiting at the front of the outpost came running towards her, strips of diaphanous alabaster cloth fluttering in the wind.

“What are you doing?” She called out to her.

“Population control,” Ilyshn’ish replied lightly.

The Frost Giant groaned and stirred weakly beneath her, and Ilyshn’ish casually slashed his throat out. Blood blossomed on its pale, unkempt beard, spattering the fresh snow and pooling on the ground. She flicked the small amount on her claws away to the side as she watched her surroundings for reactions from any other Frost Giants that might be nearby.

“Would you like some Jotun?” Ilyshn’ish asked the Vampire Bride, “It’s fresh.”

The Vampire Bride stepped forward, leaning forward to dip her finger into the expanding pool of blood. She popped it into her mouth and made a face.

“It’s not very good,” she said.

“I find that there isn’t much to relish, myself,” Ilyshn’ish agreed, and looked towards the stout figures nearby. “You there, with the beard.”

The Dwarves that had gathered around the fallen Frost Giant all simultaneously pointed to themselves with a question on their faces.

“I will exchange this kill here with you,” she told them. “I don’t care how you split it.”

The stout figures traded sidelong glances at one another. She didn’t know if they were together or not – actually, it was better if they weren’t since competing interests would probably ensure that they didn’t collude on such short notice.

“Er…could ya give us a bit here?” One of the Dwarves asked as he eyed the corpse.

“You have about five minutes before I head out,” she answered. “I’ll be at the Vampire post.”

Hejinmal had already landed and was being unloaded when she padded up to the delivery outpost. He eyed her warily as she stopped in front of him.

“I didn’t know I had such a vicious sister,” he said.

“You’re the one that’s too soft,” she retorted, “in more ways than one.”

“Are you saying the entire brood just casually kills Frost Giants like that?” Hejinmal said in clear disbelief, “I hardly think they’d be considered our competition if that was the case.”

“Well I don’t fly around with the others like we’ve been doing for the past few weeks, so how should I know? I did say that ones like that are easy to pick off, though. These are all just weak, inexperienced, scouts – expendable to their masters, and looking for ways to distinguish themselves. The strong ones won’t leave their tribal strongholds unless they have good reason to.”

“How strong do these ‘strong ones’ get?”

“Maybe there’s a few nearly as strong as our parents were,” Ilyshn’ish said as a Vampire Bride crawled up her shoulder to remove the bags, “but the real problem is that there are a whole lot more of them than us. That’s why father was afraid of them, no?”

“But father said he wasn’t afraid of the Frost Giants…”

“Well, he’s an idiot if he actually thought that,” she snorted, “and you’re an idiot for believing such a ridiculous thing. Why do you think he even founded our enclave in the first place?”

Being the weakest amongst Dragonkind, individual Frost Dragons were cautious in unfamiliar situations and generally nursed an inferiority complex – poking at it usually led to an unkindly reaction. Olasird’arc had recognized their race’s tenuous hold over the Azerlisia Mountains, which was why he had gathered his mates and established a communal lair in Feoh Berkana. Ilyshn’ish respected her father for having such an inspired vision for their future, so this revelation that he had not actually come to grips with his own nature was something of a disappointment.

“I suppose that makes sense…does that mean you’re scared of them too, sister?”

“These weakling scouts and hunters aren’t something to fear,” she told him, “but you won’t catch me anywhere near the more powerful ones. I wouldn’t even think of getting close to one of their strongholds. How many of us do you think they’ve captured or killed over the ages?”

“There’s no way to tell, really. Very few of us survive to adulthood, even with the enclave, and there’s a lot of things we can be eaten by before then. Who was eaten and who was captured is entirely up in the air.”

“Mmh…well my point is that even if we can easily kill these young and inexperienced ones that haven’t proven themselves to their respective tribes yet, it doesn’t mean that all Frost Giants are that weak. Driving them out of the mountains entirely would take millennia – our enclave would need to be many times its size unless an exceptional individual is born one day…but that can just as easily happen for the Frost Giants as well. Thankfully one of those doesn’t exist, I think.”

“You’re not trying to be one of those ‘exceptional individuals’, sister?”

“Me? How can that be? The legendary great wyrms of old, according to mother, commanded magics that we can’t even harness today. You’d have to be able to do that much, at least. I’m just trying to get strong enough that I won’t get eaten by Adventurers immediately after leaving the safety of home.”

The Vampire Bride hopped off of her, carrying away the Infinite Haversacks in her arms, and Ilyshn’ish looked over at Hejinmal, who was similarly bare of all but one of his magical containers.

“We’re not taking anything to E-Rantel?” She asked.

"There’s nothing to deliver from here for now, so no.” One of the Vampire Brides replied, "We’re keeping this set of bags here so we can prepare future transfers in advance if necessary. The main hub for the network is Feoh Berkana, however, so I expect that any outgoing shipments to E-Rantel will be from there. Have a safe journey.”

Hejinmal shuffled out in front of her and let out a startled cry when he nearly stepped on the Dwarves patiently waiting outside. Ilyshn’ish shook her head: maybe her brother was doomed to be oblivious. He wobbled precariously on his right legs as he hopped forward awkwardly to avoid them before ploughing headfirst into a snowdrift. Ilyshn’ish popped out of the office after her brother.

“Have you decided on your offer?” She asked.

The Dwarves turned away from looking at Hejinmal’s tail, which was sticking out of the snow, to face her.

“Well, the equipment wasn’t magical,” one with a dark, grey, beard answered, “so it’ll be good to break down for raw materials. Wasn’t much else, though – we’ll take it all for six gold coins.”

“What about the corpse?”

“The corpse?” He blinked.

“Surely it’s worth something,” she explained. “You have lizards to feed, yes? Then there’s the skin and bones…”

“You said you didn’t like the taste, though?”

“Are you implying something?” Ilyshn’ish leaned forward, peering down at the handful of Dwarves.

The first Dwarf looked to the others for a moment, then grunted.

“Fine,” he said. “Twelve gold pieces. Who’d ‘a known a Frost Dragon would know what’s worth what.”

She supposed that, in his ignorance over what she knew, it was worth the attempt; she couldn’t fault the Dwarf for trying. He dropped the coins into Ilyshn’ish’s outstretched claws, and she tossed them into her bag.

“Pleasure doin’ business,” he said, “I’d shake on it, but that seems just a wee bit dangerous. You going to bring in giants every time you arrive?”

“Only if they’re stupid enough to come close like that,” Ilyshn'ish replied.

“Hmm…guess we’ll have to keep an eye out for falling giants then.”

The Dwarves left to attend to their new purchase, and Hejinmal finally escaped from the snowdrift, falling backwards with a wumph. Not only was he terrible in the air, but he also seemed to be bad on his feet and incapable of burrowing at any decent speed as well. They were all things that Frost Dragons were naturally capable of – she wondered if he would become the first Frost Dragon to ever drown if he was dumped into the sea. His brother glanced at the backs of the Dwarves heading off towards the mountain fissure, then back to the bag strapped onto Ilyshn’ish.

“Wow,” Hejinmal marveled at her. “Getting paid for killing a random stranger that you came across – you’re just like an Adventurer.”

Ilyshn’ish shuddered at his comparison.

“Don’t ever call your own dear sister such a dreadful thing,” she told him. “I have a day off in E-Rantel coming up, and I’m not going into the city like some impoverished whelp.”

“That’s right, isn’t it?” He said, “I hope you’ll see to what I asked about, dear sister.”

“Of course, dear brother.”