Winter's Crown: Act 4, Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Ilyshn’ish shuffled despondently down the street, bitter thoughts forming a cloud in her mind. What was the point in becoming so pleased over her progress today? Gleefully rubbing her claws together over the pittance of power she had gained, only for Tsuare to appear and show her what the exercise of power truly meant.

Within five minutes of the female’s entry, she had twisted Master Tian’s will to her whims and sent Ilyshn’ish to the chopping block. Never mind being powerless, Ilyshn’ish didn’t even realize it was coming. She collapsed onto the floor, uwagi hanging over one shoulder as she sat frozen in shock.

Master Tian left for a few minutes and returned with a plain envelope, offering it to Ilyshn’ish before sending her on her way. As she walked down the lane to the street, Ilyshn’ish saw Tsuare clinging to Master Tian, gazing down at her with a smug look of superiority.

Ilyshn’ish retrieved the letter from her Infinite Haversack, clutching at it desperately. It was a letter to inform them that Master Tian had sent her – perhaps she could turn it to her favour somehow and prevent being slaughtered by vicious Adventurers. No matter how high quality of an item; no matter how useful, she didn’t want to become some trendy article that they displayed to impress others in far-off places.

“Ah, there you are…what in the world happened to you?”

Ilyshn’ish looked up. In her stupor, she had somehow meandered her way back to the Frost Dragon pens. Lady Shalltear stood before her, arms folded over her stomach.

“Lady Shalltear,” Ilyshn’ish asked, “are you stronger than Master Tian?”

“Master Tian…?” Lady Shalltear furrowed her brow for a moment before answering, “Ah, yes I am.”

Should she throw herself at Lady Shalltear’s feet and beg for her intercession? It might be the only way to escape Tsuare’s machinations. She thought of how Pe Riyuro grovelled before her father…no, Zu Chiru should be a less outdated form. Ilyshn’ish lowered herself to her knees, bending forward until her forehead touched the frozen stones of the wall before the hem of Lady Shalltear’s dress. She resembled nothing more than a lump of weathered earth before the pinnacle of power.

“Lady Shalltear,” her heartfelt plea rose into the night sky, “this lowly one begs for your forgiveness.”

“I can’t say I expected Sebas’ instruction to be so effective…”

“Please!” Ilyshn’ish sobbed, “Please forgive me, Lady Shalltear! Please grant me your mercy…”

Her shoulders quivered as she begged. She didn’t want to die – she had barely lived a century and had barely experienced anything beyond her tiny home. Lady Shalltear gazed down upon her prostrate form, her face an unreadable mask.

“Well...it appears that you’ve learned your lesson,” she said after several moments. “From now on, keep in mind that I show no mercy to those who should know and do better, and only one of my vassals is permitted to voice her opposition to my directives – you’re not her, just to be clear on that.”

Ilyshn’ish wondered what sort of person could possibly stand up to Lady Shalltear…no, that wasn’t important right now.

“Thank you, Lady Shalltear! Thank you!” Her forehead hit the ground repeatedly, “If this lowly one has received my lady’s mercy, then perhaps you might allay the evil scheme that has been laid against me as well…”

“An evil scheme?” Lady Shalltear frowned, “From Sebas?”

“No, my lady,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “It is the ploy of another – a Human female called Tsuare.”

Actually, she wasn’t sure if Tsuare was a Human at all. To be able to turn the powerful Master Tian against her so easily, Tsuare was probably some powerful being who was merely veiling herself behind the weak Human guise. There were so many powerful beings hidden around the city, so it was not improbable. Certainly, one who personally served in the Sorcerer King’s household must be yet another unfathomably powerful being.

“Tsuare?” Lady Shalltear furrowed her brow in thought, “Oh, that one.”

A glimmer of hope rose before Ilyshn’ish, and she dared to peek up at Lady Shalltear. If the powerful Vampire referred to Tsuare in such an offhand manner, then she could surely reverse Ilyshn’ish’s ill fortune. She poured her heart out, conveying her dire situation in a torrent of words. Lady Shalltear tapped her cheek in silent thought.

“Hmm…so Tsuare encouraged Sebas to deliver you to the Adventurer Guild,” she said. “Does she mean to have him claim all the credit for a valuable contribution? Sebas is quite austere and humble by nature, but I’ve never considered Tsuare’s influence on his actions.”

“She didn’t mention you at all, my lady,” Ilyshn’ish said. “Master Tian scribed a letter for me to present to the Adventurer Guild in person, but I would rather not go near any Adventurers at all…”

“I see,” the ghost of a smile traced over Lady Shalltear’s lips. “Well, I will consider your request.”

“Thank you, my lady!”

“Before you head north again,” Lady Shalltear told her, “we have a quick delivery scheduled – Mare wants to test our delivery systems. Head to the front desk for details.”

“Of course, my lady,” Ilyshn’ish rose to her feet and bobbed her head several times. “Thank you, my lady.”

Ilyshn’ish made her way over to the Vampire Bride at the front desk, returning to her Dragon self along the way. On the counter was a row of eight Infinite Haversacks.

“Eight?” She looked around, “Is Hejinmal coming?”

“You alone will suffice,” the Vampire Bride replied. “It’s not too far; here’s a map with your destination marked on it.”

Ilyshn’ish looked down at the map spread out over the desk. She recalled the features around the city that she had flown over directly, but, beyond a certain point, things became unrecognizable. She looked back over to the Vampire Bride.

“I-I don’t recognize this location,” she told her. “What if I get lost?”

“It’s not much to remember…”

“Nonono,” Ilyshn’ish shook her head, “Frost Dragons don’t work like that. Our recollection of past experiences is perfect, but the rest pales in comparison. Trying to remember things we’ve only read about takes a lot more work to retain.”

“Hejinmal seems to read quite a bit,” the Vampire bride looked over to Hejinmal’s pen.

“There are some tricks that can help,” Ilyshn’ish said, “but it usually takes us a few read-throughs to even partially remember what we’ve read if the subject material is entirely foreign. The more abstract it becomes, the worse it gets. Hejinmal is no exception.”

“How in the world did you manage to learn so much cooped up in the mountains?”

“We’ve had a century to read everything remaining in the ruins of Feoh Berkana,” Ilyshn’ish explained. “I’ll admit that it's a bit addictive when you find a good book – the first few times you barely remember, so it’s like having four or five in one…please don’t give me that ah-this-one’s-an-idiot look…”

“Then...can you understand the map?” The Vampire Bride asked.

“If I have a chance to reference it to what I see,” Ilyshn’ish answered.

“Then take the map with you: you’ll recognize that everything is the same from above.”

The Vampire Bride rolled up the map and offered it to her, but Ilyshn’ish only looked down at it dubiously.

“I doubt I can hold this open in my claws while I’m flying around…”

“You could land once in a while to reorient yourself,” the Vampire Bride suggested. “It’s not far, so you should be able to see E-Rantel from above the location.”

Ilyshn’ish hesitantly added the map to her bag and waited for the Vampire Brides to finish strapping on her cargo.

“Um…is there anything dangerous there?”

“There’s nothing that could remotely threaten you at the landing zone,” one of the Vampire Brides told her as she hopped off of Ilyshn’ish’s shoulder.

“Oh. Well, that’s good.”

Ilyshn’ish launched herself from the wall, gaining altitude with powerful strokes of her wings. After about five minutes of making her way southwest, she already felt somewhat lost. Frowning down towards the ground, she circled upwards until she gained a broad vantage of the surrounding area. South of the city was the town that she wanted to visit at some point, being built on the bank of a large river.

Was there a river on the map? She couldn’t recall. The one below flowed from west to east, coming down from some unseen location obscured by the northern spur of the nearby mountain range.

Ilyshn’ish descended, landing ten minutes later near a bend in the river. Finding a suitably large rock, she carefully unfurled the map. More of the map seemed familiar now, and she put it away before taking off in the direction of the marker. After repeating the process one more time, she cautiously glided over what she was reasonably sure was the delivery location.

A small forest stretched northwards until it met the cultivated lands west of the city. A long valley extended to the south. Across the river to the west were the mountains that she noted from the city, which connected to a massive range that stretched beyond the horizon to the west. Ilyshn’ish idly wondered if she was permitted to hunt in this area – the alpine valleys between the peaks looked lush and green, likely filled with all manner of tasty things.

She looked back down again, trying to figure out exactly where the delivery location was as she descended in wide circles. Unable to find an opening in the trees, she settled for the bare northern slope of a small ravine nearby. There were trees above and below, and alarm arose within her over potential ambushes. She entered into her Form of Restoration, just in case something jumped out and bit her.

After a brief search, Ilyshn’ish found a small trail leading up to a ledge overlooking the ravine, and she followed it to find a camp with several Humans inside a perimeter of sharpened wooden stakes. She padded up to the nearest Human.

“E-excuse me…” She barely managed in a tiny voice.

The Human screamed. Ilyshn’ish screamed. Then the Human struck her squarely on the nose with his sword. The blade glanced off harmlessly.

“Hey!” Ilyshn’ish whimpered.

He looked at her and screamed again. Why was he screaming? She was the one being assaulted.

The camp exploded into activity, and a half dozen Humans scurried about in the firelight. In the span of a few seconds, Ilyshn’ish found two crossbows and a longbow raised against her. It was probably safer for her to just go away.

“The hell is going on here!” A gruff voice shouted from inside the camp, “And who the fuck just squealed like a stuck pig?”

“It was Henrich!” A woman said.

“Wha–no, it wasn’t!”

“Which genius put a Fighter on watch?” The gruff voice sounded angrily.

“I told you, it wasn’t me!”

A portly Human male, half-dressed in armour, walked out towards the edge of the camp. He peered over at the man with the sword, then to Ilyshn’ish.

“A Frost Dragon?”

“Y-yes?”

“You’re the scheduled supply drop, then?” The gruff man asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” Ilyshn’ish nodded.

Ilyshn’ish tried to ignore the various weapons brandished against her, slowly withdrawing a clipboard from her Infinite Haversack. She carefully read through the notes on the front page.

“Um…please verify the contents of your delivery,” she held out the clipboard between her claws.

The man took the clipboard, reading over the contents. Ilyshn’ish lowered herself closer to the ground.

“Could someone help me with these, please? It’s hard to undo the buckles myself.”

A pair of the Humans came forward, but the one that had taken a swing at her hung back. A female came right up to her snout and leaned over.

“Man, Henrich,” she said, “you screamed like a bitch, but you didn’t even put a scratch on her nose.”

“Dammit, Mag,” a voice drifted over the tents, “I’m on the other side of the camp!”

The woman let out a snicker before reaching up to undo the first bag. She stopped to stroke Ilyshn’ish’s side.

“Oooh…I never thought I’d be able to touch a real Dragon…”

Ilyshn’ish tried her best to ignore the stroking and poking. Five minutes later, the bags were off and lined up on the ground, with the Humans in the camp emptying their contents. The man holding her clipboard handed it back, and Ilyshn’ish went through the list again.

“Were there any problems with your delivery?”

“No.”

“Did you sign...?”

“I used an official stamp.”

Ilyshn’ish carefully flipped to the end and saw a strange, unknown symbol. She hoped it would be enough.

“Then…um, thank you for using the Vampire Post…”

Ilyshn’ish turned back around, going down the trail a ways before taking flight. Fearing that she had taken too long, she layered a few spellsongs over herself before winging it back to E-Rantel.

Back at the wall in front of the pens, Lady Shalltear awaited her, tapping a foot impatiently.

“That took much longer than expected,” she said as Ilyshn’ish settled onto the wall in front of her.

“I-it was a new place, my lady,” Ilyshn’ish explained. “I got lost – twice.”

“Twice?” Lady Shalltear frowned.

“The delivery area wasn’t clear, either – it was in a forest, so I had to land elsewhere and crawl up there. Then one of the customers hit me right on the nose with a sword!”

Ilyshn’ish pointed at her snout tearfully, and Lady Shalltear frowned up at her with hands on her hips.

“I don’t see anything…”

“It still happened!” Ilyshn’ish cried, “Ah, that was so scary…what sort of crazy person just randomly swings their weapon at others like that?”

Lady Shalltear pulled out an azure notepad from somewhere and started writing something inside.

“A-at least it only took me ten minutes to get back…”

Lady Shalltear continued writing. Ilyshn’ish shifted uncomfortably in the silence for several minutes before addressing Lady Shalltear again.

“Lady Shalltear, about the Adventurer Guild…”

“I’m still thinking about that,” Lady Shalltear told her. “Prepare for your regularly scheduled flight – you’ll need to make up for lost time along the way.”

A tendril of worry rose from the depths of Ilyshn’ish’s mind. Did she do something wrong? Was the task she had just completed a test that she failed? She didn’t know how she could have done better. Slinking past Lady Shalltear, she could only hope that her fate in the hands of the Adventurer Guild next week would be averted.