by Joe Jackson
Eliza arrived again the night before they were to leave, and was happy to spend a few hours around the dinner table in Kyrie's house detailing the risks as well as the precautions that would be in place for the pending trip. The rest of the family took a bit of comfort from the half-succubus' words, and Kari worked to make it increasingly clear that ultimately, she wasn't in much more danger than she normally was undertaking missions for the Order. For Kari, the most comforting part of Eliza's visit wasn't actually anything the wizard said, but the fact that she had not even been able to approach Kyrie's house until the priestess gave permission. The strength of the ward around the house kept Eliza away, her good nature and allegiance to the gods of no consequence when weighed against her demonic nature.
Sleep evaded Kari for the better part of the night before her intended departure, even after the usual lulling effect of her intimacy with Grakin. She tried a hot cup of tea, and sat for a while under their bedroom window, her eyes closed in a state of meditative prayer. Though she enjoyed precious little true sleep, by keeping her thoughts on Zalkar, she was able to relax, and when she thought of Zalkar and Sakkrass both keeping watch over her, she found the emotional release she needed to finally get to sleep. Though it was well past midnight when she finally did so, she was able to crawl into bed and fall asleep by her mate's side.
The next morning brought a bustle of activity, but Kari was able to pull Eliza aside and let her know that she did not want a lengthy farewell. The plan was to go to the campus of the Order and leave from there under the supervision of the Council. Kari knew that if people had their way, she'd be stuck giving hugs and handshakes for half the day before they could finally get underway, and that was the last thing she wanted. The longer the goodbyes went on, the more it would feel like Kari was marching to her death instead of doing her job, and the effect of that would probably be even worse for everyone else than for her.
They made their way to the campus in separate, smaller groups to avoid drawing too much attention, and once they arrived, the Council came out to see Kari and her friends off. They gave their blessing, as did Kyrie, and Kari kissed her mate and son and promised them she would be back as quickly as possible. Amusingly, Erik told Aeligos to take care of Kari, to which the rogue informed him it would probably be the other way around where they were going. With a chuckle, Erik wished them luck and, sensing the cue, Eliza pulled them through a portal between worlds with no warning.
The sensation was jarring, like being ushered through a tunnel full of warm water. It lasted only an instant before Kari's feet touched down on warm stone. Once her eyes readjusted and she was able to take in her surroundings, she found that she and her friends were inside a building. Everything was made out of black stone that had the consistency of glass, and Kari's first impression was that she was inside a treasury house or bank. Eliza gave the place only the most cursory of glances before she turned to the others, waiting for them to get their wits about them again. When she met Kari's eyes, she gestured toward a row of windows like those of a treasury house.
“This is what your people might call a customs house,” Eliza said. “All off-world arrivals are funneled here, and must declare themselves to the Overking's agents before they're allowed to walk the city or the lands beyond. Go on up to the counter and tell them your name, and that you're here to see Lord Morduri Irrasitus; any one of them should understand your tongue.”
“Lord Morduri? Won't they complain that we don't call him king?” Kari asked offhand, still taking in the details of the building. While the floors, walls, and ceiling all appeared to be made of that black glass-stone, there was some wooden furniture and décor to offset the dreary nature of the base material. Sunshine streamed in through high windows, but it had an angry red tint to it, and Kari wondered what the sky outside would look like.
“There is only one King in Anthraxis,” Eliza answered. “While here in the city, the other kings are referred to as Lord and Lady, and you will not be disciplined for calling them such.”
Kari nodded absently and approached one of the counters, Aeligos close behind her. He was studying the people in this strange building very carefully, but masking it well behind a façade of curiosity and wonder. Kari took in the creature at the window she approached more closely. It was a light tan elestram female with corrective lenses mounted on her snout. Her long, pointed ears perked in Kari's direction when she approached, and the creature's yellow eyes bored into Kari with a questioning intensity that made her skin feel warm.
“Identification?” the creature said in a barely-accented Citarian common tongue, and in a tone that suggested whatever impression her eyes gave, she was quite bored working this post.
“Karian Vanador,” she answered, leaving off her titles. The last thing she wanted to do was create more questions for the elestram to ask.
“Citarian,” the elestram female muttered, but then her brow knitted. Her finger came up and traced a short pattern in the air, and before Kari could ask what she was doing, her dog tags came up and floated in the air. “A Citarian hunter? What is your business on the Overking's world?”
“I'm here to meet…Lord Morduri, by his request,” Kari answered, only hesitating when she almost called him King Morduri.
The elestram female continued to hold Kari under that penetrating gaze, but her facial expression gave Kari little clue to what she was thinking. With a gesture, she let Kari's tags fall down onto her breastplate again, and Kari tucked them inside self-consciously. She tried to keep from fidgeting under the yellow-eyed stare of the jackal demon, until at last the elestram spoke again. “Lord Irrasitus only just arrived in the city this morning; he will likely be unavailable to you for a few days. Since Lord Irrasitus has no personal servants with him, you are advised to make your intentions known to the Overking's servants, and allow them to arrange a meeting.”
Eliza stepped forward then and spoke quickly with the elestram female. The infernal language was harsh-sounding and imperious, but the elestram reacted well to Eliza's words. Kari figured the elestram probably knew Eliza, at least professionally, and that Eliza was explaining that everything was already pre-arranged for Kari's meeting. As they spoke, the elestram female looked to Eli, Aeligos, Sonja, and Danilynn, and eventually nodded and began speaking quickly.
Soon their hurried conversation was complete and the elestram female turned back to Kari, pulling up five small tokens from under the counter. She handed them to Kari and said, “Each of you must take one of these and keep it on your person while visiting the city. I must warn you that should you lose them, you may be detained by the Overking's guards and held for questioning. You are advised to seek accommodations in the Mortal Quarter, and await your meeting with Lord Irrasitus there.”
“Not going to tell us to enjoy our stay?” Eli muttered, but the sharp ears of the elestram apparently heard him clearly.
“Whether or not you enjoy your stay is entirely up to you,” she said curtly.
With no farewell forthcoming, Kari and her companions made their way outside behind Eliza. They had no sooner stepped out onto the street when their gazes were all drawn up to a massive ebon tower that stretched hundreds, if not thousands of feet into the air. It was easily the tallest structure Kari had ever seen in her life, but she broke free of the astonishment and began looking around the city. The tower sat in the middle of a circular plaza, and foot traffic into the tower was quite heavy. Only then did it hit Kari that she was at the heart of the world of demons; the creatures flowing into the tower were of every demonic – or non-demonic, in the case of the syrinthians – race Kari knew of. Elestram and mallasti seemed to make up the bulk of those entering the tower, but there was the occasional erestram towering above its smaller kin, a vulture-headed valiras here and there, and two harmauth guards stationed beside the tower's wide double doors. Sylinths seemed to be the only demonic species unaccounted for at first glance.
What truly struck Kari as odd was that she and her friends attr
acted very little attention from those streaming toward the tower. Their rir forms did draw a curious glance now and then, but that seemed to be the whole of it; the demons simply went about their business as if Kari and her friends were a perfectly common sight. Kari had little doubt the importance of the coming Council session weighed more heavily on their minds, but she assumed that many of these demons had to be servants to the kings and, therefore, should have been on the lookout for anything unusual like a band of rir in the city at this time.
“Come, I'll point you to an inn in the Mortal Quarter,” Eliza said, and Kari beheld her with interest. “I can't enter the Mortal Quarter, Kari: I'm not even half mortal. The Overking's laws are very specific and very strict. The only time one of my kind can enter the Mortal Quarter is to make an arrest. It even has its own mortal guards.”
Well, that's interesting, Kari thought. Such gave her a little more hope where the strength of the Overking's laws and rule were concerned. If the Overking went to so much trouble to give mortals a safe quarter in his own city, was it that much of a stretch to think any of the other kings would think twice about violating the Seven Days' Grace? It also allowed for the possibility of hiding in the Mortal Quarter should any trouble arise while they were in the city. So far, Amastri and Eliza had been proven correct: they had arrived unmolested in the city, and were even now going to be shown to safe quarters that the demons were not allowed to enter.
Kari and her companions followed Eliza southeast, or at least it seemed so based on the position of the bloated, angry red sun burning high above. The air was dusty and dry, heavy with a strange stagnancy, though it didn’t smell like waste or rot at all. It was only when she checked the sun’s position to get a bearing on direction that Kari realized how alien this world appeared. Halfway between apex and horizon, glaring down like the angry, bloodshot orb of an enraged god or titan, was a red sun that set the sky around it ablaze in shades of crimson. No traces of blue or of any puffy white clouds were to be found among the heavens, shrouded instead in a scorching haze. Kari looked down at the streets, made of the same black, glass-like stone as everything else around them, and wondered that the sun didn't make it impossible to walk upon.
Reaching the Mortal Quarter took only minutes, and Eliza pointed out that the quarter's borders reached the edge of the wide, circular plaza housing the Overking's palatial tower. The half-succubus pointed the group just down a road that stretched into the heart of the quarter, toward a modest inn that was within a stone's throw of the palatial plaza. “I'll meet you at the Overking's Keep when you get settled in,” she assured them, and gestured for them to head to the inn. As soon as Kari and her companions left the circular plaza, Eliza turned and headed up the steps to the tower.
Kari watched Eliza walk away only briefly. She steeled herself and led her companions toward the inn. She reminded herself that all too soon, she and her companions would be on their own without Eliza to guide them around, so she'd better get used to moving amongst the demons and their cities without that layer of protection. Some of that resolve crumbled the minute she laid eyes on the inn's little sign, though: written there in the Citarian common tongue, as well as three other languages she couldn't read, was the name Hope's End.
Eli started chuckling when he saw the sign. Kari glanced at Aeligos, and he smirked and shrugged. Sonja and Danilynn appeared to study the sign closely, but neither said anything about the other strange languages inscribed upon it. Kari stepped forward and pushed open the door, and she ushered her friends through despite Eli and Aeligos' attempts to hold the door for her. Danilynn pointed at one of the other languages on the sign as she stepped inside, but whatever she wanted to say had to wait. Once all four of her companions were in, Kari entered behind them and her brows rose in surprise.
The inside of Hope's End was designed and decorated to look just like a tavern back home on Citaria might. Its walls were covered on the inside with plaster and wood, with beams added to the ceiling to give the impression the place wasn't completely crafted from black glass like the rest of the city. Bright, cheery chandeliers dispelled the deep shadows that tried to claim supremacy in the absence of windows, and streamers, mounted taxidermy, and other homey effects actually gave the inn a little bit of charm. Its name still lingered when Kari thought the last, but she had to admit this was more than she had expected.
Only a few pairs of eyes glanced at the newest guests standing inside the doorway, and Kari gestured her friends to one of the larger tables that had room for all of them. She noted the races of the other customers: a pair of syrinthians having a quick but quiet conversation in their sibilant language; a couple of kwarrasti enjoying a meal of long, stringy meats; and a circular gaming table had a trio of humans around it, involved in a game of cards. The only other people were the apparent hostess and the bartender, a couple of humans with wide-set eyes, dark hair, and rounded features. The man behind the bar bowed his head politely to Kari when their gazes met, and then the woman came over toward the table.
The human woman tried a couple of languages before speaking the Citarian common tongue, and she smiled when she found the appropriate words. “Welcome to Hope's End,” she greeted her guests. “Are you here for food, lodgings, or both?”
“How large are your rooms?” Aeligos asked before Kari could say anything.
“Large enough for three, should one sleep on the floor,” their hostess said.
Aeligos nodded slightly to Kari, then turned back to the human woman. “Two rooms should do, then,” he said. “We'll be in the city for at least a couple of days, but depending on how things go with the Council session, we could be here for a while. Can you spare two rooms and food to go with them for a few weeks?”
“Very good sir, yes,” the hostess replied. “Once the Council completes its session, we are typically light on guests until trade season. We will prepare two rooms for you with spare blankets in one; shall I go and get you some food now?”
“We're expected at the palace,” Kari said, waving off the offer. “If you can just hold the rooms for us, we should be back in a little while.”
“Very good, my lady,” the hostess said. “I am Qin Lixiao, and will be happy to be of service when you return.”
Kari couldn't help being put on guard by the unexpected pleasantness so soon after their arrival, but she smiled and nodded thankfully before they rose and departed. She worked hard not to get too anxious, but she couldn't shake the feeling that all the pleasantness of the inn and possibly the entire Mortal Quarter was meant to put her off-guard. Just when she thought she could relax for a minute, she expected the Overking's all-powerful arm could very easily swoop in and pluck her right out of the “safe” area and cast her headlong into a dungeon, or worse. It would be nice to have a fairly pleasant place to stay the nights, but Kari stayed alert.
Traffic into the tower had slowed to a trickle when they returned to the central plaza, and the two harmauth guards opened the double doors for Kari and her companions. She tried to be conscious to not look like a tourist or act bewildered every time something of the sort occurred, and she hoped her friends had the same presence of mind. They filed into the tower, assaulted immediately by many conversations on every side, almost all in the infernal tongue. Danilynn and Sonja may have both been able to understand the infernal tongue, but Kari doubted they'd be able to pick out any single conversation amongst the cacophony.
The entire interior of the tower was an assault on the senses. In addition to the numerous conversations, there was the sound of a piano being played somewhere nearby. Kari's eyes were drawn here and there, taking in the many elestram, erestram, mallasti, syrinthian, and other retainers, servants, and visitors crowding the entry level. The entry level was bright, the walls of the tower enchanted somehow so that they let in light from outside without being transparent. Of greater interest to Kari was a wide, circular opening to the level below, lined with a railing short enough for guests to watch over. Two wide spiral staircases
led up to the next level, from which the distant piano playing seemed to come. Kari couldn't see any of the kings – at least none that stood out, or that she recognized – and she wondered where to go first.
The circular opening to the level below piqued her interest most, so she glanced at her companions and then made her way to the railing. The demons in the way cast only cursory glances at her and her companions as they edged past, and soon Kari laid her hands on the railing and looked over the side. The level below was dominated in the center by a sprawling table that could seat close to fifty people or, based on the size of the chairs that accompanied it, nearly a dozen and a half demon kings. The floor, like everything else in the tower and the city, was made of the black glass, which made the wooden table stand out all the more.
The table itself looked to be set for dinner, with fancy plates and silver- and gold-wear across its polished surface. Around the perimeter were seventeen chairs, with one at the head and eight per side. Each of these impressive chairs appeared to be unique to the king who sat in them, from the gilded black throne at the head of the table – doubtless for the Overking – to the simple one of wood and furs that sat at the far right corner from the Overking's seat. A few of the seats appeared to be made from bones, while others were crafted from granite, obsidian like the Overking's, or gilded wood.
Only one of the seats was currently occupied, and Kari studied the form of the demon king while its attention was elsewhere. She was fairly certain she had already located Morduri Irrasitus, the tall, lean elestram covered in tan fur that was highlighted in places by darker browns or even black. Most curious were his eyes, a glowing shade of violet that Kari had only ever seen among the seterra-rir of the Salkorum Islands. She had seen elestram with orange, golden, green, or brown eyes before, but never one with the shade Morduri had. He was dressed in a smart but well-worn set of hunter's garb, suggesting he hadn’t changed upon arriving in the city. Leaning to the side in his high-backed wooden throne with one leg crossed atop the other, he was balancing a sheet of metal covered with paper between his lap and the edge of the table, and appeared to be drawing something.
