Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Krivax was feeling distinctly uncomfortable as he followed behind Vizier Hadix as the two of them made their way through the hallways of the Queens ziggurat.

Never before had he seen a place more intensely guarded, not even the underkings residence; the entire building was covered entirely in Warriors and arachnathids who were watching his every move. There were also many skitterers throughout the building who were constantly carrying food, but Krivax knew that they would not hesitate to turn into a devouring swarm if he was deemed to be a threat to any of the Queens.

Krivax had informed Masruk about his upcoming elevation to the Vizier caste and his friend had been extremely happy for him. Hed tried to ask Vizier Hadix what Masruk would need to do to become a Spiderlord, but the requirements were nothing that could be easily accomplished in the short term, sadly. The Vizier had simply said that Masruk would either need to perform a great service for the kingdom or display such extreme martial skill and leadership ability that those in power would consider it a waste not to raise him up.

Trixie, Malzie, and Oscar had not been happy once they learned that the friendliest nerubian they had met so far would be busy up until the expedition was ready to leave, but they had no other options other than to accept it.

Oscar, at least, was placated after he was handed over a spatial bag filled with a pittance to pay for the delegations travel fee aboard their ship. The way the merchants eyes nearly bugged out of his head was quite hilarious. You just simply didnt see such reactions in nerubians.

Krivax just hoped that things wouldnt get too bad between his people and the foreigners while he was gone and that Masruk could smooth things over.

Still, being elevated in caste was a boon that he had hoped for, but not truly expected so soon. Not only would his magical capabilities benefit significantly, but the increase in societal prestige alone would make things much easier for him.

Thankfully, it didnt take very long for them to reach the room that Queen Melras would be using for his caste elevation.

The first thing that stood out to Krivax as he followed Hadix into the room was the gigantic nerubian eggs that he could see around the edges of the room. He could tell that these eggs were much larger than the one he and his cluster mates had been born from and likely contained nerubians destined for the higher castes.

Krivax was a bit confused about why they would use the same room where they stored eggs in for the caste elevation process, but he wasnt particularly concerned about it so he put it out of his mind. What was more concerning was the surprisingly large number of eggs that he could see throughout the large room. Krivax didnt know exactly how many members of the leadership castes were usually produced by Kilahkuk, but something told him that this was more than what was normal.

Youre here early, said Queen Melras impassively as she inspected one of the eggs and pointed lazily to a certain portion of the room that held a circle of arcane glyphs spread across the floor. Good. We will begin the process as quickly as possible. Go take your place in the ritual circle, Initiate. I'll see to you in a moment.

Krivax glanced at Vizier Hadix, but his mentor seemed to be unconcerned about the matter so he quickly did as the Queen instructed.

Surprisingly, as Krivax looked down and examined the arcane glyphs of the ritual circle, he could tell that it was actually nothing particularly complicated. Its only real function was to allow liquid to flow into the circle while preventing it from leaving a predetermined perimeter. He was glad to see that there were also portions of the circle that would allow him to breathe despite being submerged in liquid and concerningly portions that would prevent him from feeling pain.

How exactly does she intend to use this for the elevation process?

Krivax felt like there was no particular harm in asking, so he decided to do just that.

Queen Melras, what exactly is the process for a caste elevation, if I may ask? Krivax asked politely.

The process varies greatly depending upon to which caste the subject is being elevated, said Queen Melras offhandedly, not even turning to face him. For an elevation to the Vizier caste, I will first begin by completely submerging you in alchemically modified amniotic fluid before using my magic to convert the outermost portion of the fluid into a substance similar to the one that composes our eggs called ShpAqyt. The thaumaturgic processes that I will perform after that point are both secret and far too complicated for you to understand.

Krivax found himself conflicted by the Queens description of the process.

On one hand, he wasnt about to be strapped to a table and treated like the victim of a mad scientist. On the other, he was about to be put back into an egg so that the Queen could completely reshape the body he had spent the past few years getting used to.

Krivax wasnt quite sure how to feel about that.

I suppose I know now why they chose this room. It's definitely the most convenient place to store me. I hope they put me to sleep for this. Incubating was boring enough the first time.

I can see that you have things well in hand, Queen Melras, said Vizier Hadix. I will depart and begin making my preparations for my journey to the Eastern Kingdoms. When might I expect the process to be concluded?

I will send a messenger to inform you once it is done, said Queen Melras shortly. You may leave.

Vizier Hadix bowed politely to the Queen and made his exit without further comment.

Krivax waited patiently as the Queen finished her business, trying his best to push away his nervousness. Finally, the Queen seemed satisfied with her inspection and she turned her full attention to him as she made her way over to the ritual circle.

Krivax was extremely grateful that he had grown used to nerubian features over the past few years because he would have made a fool of himself as soon as the Queen began to loom over him otherwise. Not only was Queen Melras much larger than him, but her facial features were actually much closer to an actual spider than the facial features of a Spiderlord.

Krivax remained silent as the Queen examined him and made minute alterations to the ritual circle. As far as he could tell, she was adjusting the volume of liquid that the circle could hold, most likely to account for his body mass.

After a few moments, the Queen seemed satisfied and she directed the skitterers who were crawling along her body to bring her one of the nearby eggs.

At least House Ashfort should be more than happy once we return, said Trixie, referring to the cargo hold that was completely filled with valuable trade goods, on top of the minor transportation fee. The spiderpeople might be as arrogant and scary as elves, but they were also as rich as them too.

There is that, Captain Prescott agreed reluctantly. Still, Ill be glad once we return to Lordaeron and this becomes somebody else's problem.

That was something that Trixie could completely agree with.

After a few moments of making meaningless small talk with the captain, Trixie excused herself and began making her way to the front of the ship to find Malzie. It wasnt very hard to find him given that he seemed to be spending his time watching one of the braver sailors teach one of the spiderpeople how to properly tie the mooring lines. She was pretty sure that she had seen that same spiderperson learning many of the various duties of a sailor.

Trixie could appreciate how eager the spiderpeople seemed to be when it came to learning new skills. The other Vizier that they were sendingwho was not quite as scary as Vizier Hadix, thankfullyhad even offered Malzie obscene amounts of gold for him to teach the Vizier how to speak the languages of the Eastern Kingdoms. Malzie had turned her down and had instead offered to teach her if she taught him how to speak their language in return.

This didnt particularly surprise Trixie given that she knew Malzie had a love for learning new languages and that he was fluent in Common, Dwarvish, Gnomish, and had even learned some Thalassian from a half-elf. She could tell that the Vizier had been quite surprised at how quickly Malzie was picking up the language, although the Vizier was learning Common at a rapid rate as well.

While Trixie had mixed feelings about how quickly the spiderpeople were learning, it didnt stop her from being amused every time she heard the giant spiderperson try to speak Common with a distinctly Dwarvish accent.

Hey there, big guy, said Trixie as she approached Malzie. Hows everything going?

Its going good, lass, said Malzie cheerfully. Nobody is dead and were set to head on back home today. Plus, I heard something good from Vizier Crinis. According to her, that Krivax fellow should be making his way here soon.

Trixie perked up at the news. Krivax had been one of the first spiderpeople that she had met and he was much more friendly than the rest of his compatriots. It would be nice to have another spiderperson on the ship aside from Masruk who didnt blatantly look down on them, figuratively at least since most folk did so literally already.

Are you sure? asked Trixie eagerly. Has he already completed his elevation process?

Krivax had come to them a few hours after the meeting with the spiderpeople leadership had ended in order to explain that he would be busy until shortly before they were scheduled to set sail for the Eastern Kingdoms. Apparently, he would be undergoing some kind of magical ritual that would be turning him into one of the Viziers.

Trixie was a bit dubious given that she had never heard of magic that could permanently change a creature's body to such a drastic degree, but she wasnt a mage so what did she know?

Well thats what the Vizier lady told me, said Malzie with some uncertainty. It makes sense though. That lad and his scary Vizier mentor are the only two who were still waiting for, after all. The spiderfolk seem like the punctual sort, so Im sure theyll be showing up soon.

Trixie hoped that was the case. She would feel much better after they finally set out to sea.

The two of them spent the next few minutes going over their plans once they returned to the Eastern Kingdoms. They agreed that the first thing they needed to do was make their way to Ironforges embassy in Capital City. Telling their people about everything that they had seen during their trip to Northrend would have to be their absolute first priority. Trixie didnt know how contact with the spider kingdom would impact the Eastern Kingdoms, but she knew enough to understand that the impact would be more than substantial.

Just as Trixie was starting to worry that the spiderpeople would not be as punctual as her colleague had expected, their conversation was interrupted by a bright violet light suddenly forming on the deck of the ship.

Trixie startled and started reaching for her wrench before she realized that the light was the result of two Viziers suddenly teleporting onto the ship.

While she had a difficult time telling the spiderpeople apart from one another, Trixie recognized one of the Viziers as the intimidating mentor of Krivax by his teal robes and his general aura of danger.

If that one is Hadix, then the other one must be Krivax

The other Vizier was wearing red robes and was noticeably smaller than the other one. He seemed to be fiddling with his headdress and Trixie could tell from the awkwardness of his movements that he was not particularly graceful. He had a brown carapace, was wearing a set of dark red robes, and looked much the same as every other Vizier that she had seen.

Trixie was not the greatest at distinguishing nerubian features.

Just as Trixie was about to move forward to greet them, she noticed Masruk quickly coming up from below deck and heading straight for the two Viziers.

The shorter, red-robed Vizier seemed to call out excitedly in their spider language as Masruk approached and attempted to move to greet him, only to stumble over his own four feet.

Yeah, thats definitely Krivax, Trixie thought with no small amount of amusement.

She decided that she would stay out of the way and let the two of them talk. After all, there would be plenty of time for them to chat during the trip.

After their last two passengers arrived, it didnt take long for Captain Prescott to call for them to set sail. The human sailors had the ship undocked faster than Trixie had ever seen before, likely more than eager to get away from Northrend and return home.

As Trixie watched the sleeping Spiderlord as Moaki Harbor vanished over the horizon, she couldnt help but feel in her gut that the future of the Eastern Kingdoms would soon be changed irrevocably.