by Unknown
“You kept close to four hundred soldiers from getting away, though,” Viper said, his tone turning slightly scolding. “Certainly, the majority of them likely resurrected, but the amount of coin that costs is not insubstantial, and unless they wish to risk permanent death, those soldiers are going to be stuck in a city for most of a month even now. That doesn’t even take into account how much equipment they lost as well. Considering that four hundred soldiers is almost a tenth of the duke’s standing army across most of the garrisons, you did good work. Even if you had help.”
The explanation eased Cora’s mood, and she saw how Stella’s frown grew less pronounced. She suspected that neither of them had thought about that. Brianna might have, but Cora’s town had never been involved in large-scale warfare. They were too small for that. Either way, at least Cora’s month was about over. In a couple of days she’d be able to resurrect safely again, or at least mostly safely.
“Yes, well, the apis definitely helped. If we hadn’t had their assistance, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” Cora said, sighing softly as she shook her head, remembering all three battles where the apis had helped out. “It’s part of why we agreed to guide them here.”
“They paid us, too!” Joy chimed in, prompting a laugh from Brianna.
“More than we asked for, at that,” Brianna said, shrugging as Viper looked at him, and she explained. “We were coming this way anyway, and told them we’d escort them for five hundred coins. They took that as five hundred coins for each of us.”
“Ah, I understand. I see that I’ll have to recommend that we be exceptionally precise regarding any contracts we make with the apis,” Viper said, writing something behind the desk. “We don’t want to make them think that we’re trying to cheat them, or to have them think we’ve promised more than we have. Either would end poorly, I believe.”
“You might say that,” Cora replied dryly, thinking about the battles again. Forty thousand apis, two-thirds of the hive, was ten times the size of Duke Dorma’s army, based on what Viper had said earlier. That would go badly for Dorma, in her opinion. “In any case… do we need to stay to guide the attendants, or can we go find rooms of our own?”
“Ah, yes, one moment… I need to get you something,” Viper said, turning away to open a cabinet, one with a glowing spell-lock on the drawer. He shuffled through it, then pulled out an envelope. The envelope was made of crisp white paper, which immediately identified it as being rather expensive even if the wax seal and ribbon hadn’t. He turned to them, offering it to Cora, likely since she was the closest to him. “This is from His Grace. I happen to know that he very much appreciates the risks you took for the sake of the kingdom and his subjects, and wishes to express his thanks in person. Details are in the missive, but I expect you can present it at the palace gates. If you do so, I’d expect to wait until he can clear things from his schedule.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Brianna muttered, and Joy looked at her curiously, her antennae perking up.
“Oh? Do nobles not usually have much to do?” Joy asked eagerly, and almost visibly putting the human on her back foot.
“Er, it’s another expression, Joy. I was just being sarcastic,” Brianna replied, her cheeks flushing, which prompted a laugh from Cora. That got Cora a glare, but the human continued. “Most nobles of the duke’s rank are busy most of the time, let alone when they have a war to worry about. Waiting is to be expected.”
“Okay! I just wasn’t sure whether you were being serious or not!” Joy said, flashing a smile. “We’re going now, yes?”
“Yes, we are,” Cora said, smiling as she nodded to Viper. “Thank you, Viper. I hope you have a good evening.”
“And you as well,” Viper replied, nodding in return.
They quickly left the building, and as they moved, Cora examined the envelope carefully. There wasn’t much on it, other than the seal and ribbon. It did bear their names in an elegant hand, but Cora was more interested in the seal.
It depicted a mountain with swords sticking into either slope at an angle, one where they’d cross if they weren’t in the mountain, and she considered before asking, “Bri, is this the seal of the duke?”
“Let’s see… yup, that’s his,” Brianna said, waving at some other adventurers that were heading into the building. “I’ve never seen it like that, but if you look at his flags, it’s similar.”
“That’s what I thought,” Cora murmured.
“Wouldn’t it be his? He asked us to a meeting!” Joy chimed in curiously.
“It can. It’s also possible that someone else invited us on his behalf,” Cora said, shrugging uncomfortably, then slid the envelope into her belt pouch. “Either way, I just wanted to be sure. We can look at it once we have a room at the inn.”
“Assuming that they aren’t all full,” Stella said, frowning. “I wouldn’t be surprised if people are coming here, just to be safe. This is one of the most heavily defended cities in the duchy, from what I’ve heard.”
“We’ll see soon enough,” Cora said, though she didn’t disagree. People had a tendency to flee areas in danger, in her experience… except for those who stubbornly refused to give up an inch.
Unfortunately, it turned out that Stella’s prediction was accurate. The first four inns they visited were packed with travelers, many of which looked like merchants or craftsmen to Cora. At that point they ran out of inns that were on the more affordable side of things, and their choices were to look at the cheap inns, or the more expensive ones. Personally, Cora was relieved that Brianna flatly refused to consider the lower-class inns. They had far too much coin for that part of town, and thieves were always a concern, even if they usually avoided adventurers.
It took a little while to find an inn with room even so, but eventually they found a couple of rooms at the White Horse. The inn was more inconveniently placed than most of the expensive inns, which Cora suspected was why it still had rooms available, but it was rather nice. It also cost more than she cared thinking about per night.
“What does the letter say?” Joy asked almost immediately after she plopped down her backpack next to the nice bed on her side of the room, looking at Cora eagerly. That prompted a laugh from Cora, and she chided the apis gently.
“Hold on, Joy. We should wait for Bri and Stella,” Cora said, setting her staff in the corner, then removing her own backpack. She laid a hand on the bed briefly, and as she did so her lips pursed. It was softer than she’d expected, which made her think it was a feather bed, something she’d only experienced once or twice. Perhaps the amount the room cost made more sense than she’d thought.
“Right! Sorry, I was just curious!” Joy said, plopping onto her bed, then bouncing up and down several times. “The bed is soft!”
“I certainly hope it is, with as much as we’re paying for the room,” Cora replied, grinning at the apis and rolling her shoulders again. “It might be a minute or two before they come over.”
“Yep! I smelled more of the pheromones… but they weren’t that bad, so I don’t think they’re planning to mate,” Joy said, prompting another blush from Cora.
“Do you have to talk about that, Joy? It isn’t any of our business!” Cora protested.
“Um, but you said not to talk to them about it unless they brought it up, and not to talk about it in public. This isn’t public, is it?” Joy said, frowning as her wings fluttered behind her a few times. “It’s just the two of us.”
“It isn’t that. It’s just… for most species, choosing who they want to… to mate with is a very personal, private thing. Talking about it like that makes a lot of people uncomfortable,” Cora explained, cringing at even saying that much. She didn’t like gossiping about people to begin with, so this made her distinctly uncomfortable.
“Oh. Well, I’ll try not to talk about it, then,” Joy said agreeably, though it was obvious she didn’t understand why Cora didn’t want to talk about it. Instead she bounced a little, tilting her head back and
forth as she hummed, then asked, “Do you think that Resha is done making our weapons and armor? She said it could take two or three weeks, if I remember right.”
“Mm… that’s a good question. I hope she is, since I’m sure that Alethus has more demons in his army,” Cora said, her mood sinking slightly as she considered what might be coming over the next week or two. “Even if she isn’t, we’ll do what we have to. My goal is to get to Clarion, get the ore we need, and get out. Hopefully we can avoid the war, but I don’t think that we’ll be able to.”
“Oh. I really hope it isn’t too bad. I don’t like it when anyone dies,” Joy said, her smile dimming as the apis let out a sigh. “Even bad people. I’ll still kill them, but I wish they didn’t try to hurt us.”
“Joy… I don’t think I’ll ever understand you,” Cora said, smiling at Joy as she shook her head in bewilderment. The idea of Joy feeling bad about killing people was odd, mostly because there was absolutely no hesitation in Joy’s attacks when in combat.
Joy looked at Cora in confusion, opening her mouth to speak, but at that moment there was a knock at the door.
“You presentable in there?” Brianna asked cheerfully, prompting a laugh from Cora.
“Of course we are! Come in!” Cora replied, grinning broadly as the door opened to admit Brianna and Stella, both of whom had left their weapons and backpacks behind, and she teased. “Why wouldn’t we be presentable?”
“I don’t know,” Brianna said, shrugging as she looked around, then took a spot on the wall as she shoved the door shut behind Stella. “Because the two of you have been spending an awful lot of time together, and I was wondering if you’re dating?”
Cora sputtered, while Stella let out a soft laugh, folding her arms for a moment, then stepping toward the table. Both of them stopped when Joy spoke, though.
“Nope! I can’t mate with anyone, so that isn’t going to happen. I just like talking to Cora. She’s fun and smells like a flower!” Joy chirped, prompting Cora to blink at Joy, then sigh.
“Ah, from the mouth of apis,” Cora murmured, debating for a bare moment, before she added, “Also, trying to hide the fact that the two of you are dating is a failing endeavor, you know.”
“What?” Stella asked, her cheeks coloring as she looked around, almost frozen in place. Brianna’s mouth was open, and the look on her face was almost enough to make Cora laugh again.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about that,” Joy said, looking like she was puzzled as she stared at Cora, her hands rubbing together as the apis slowly made a wax disc. “You said so!”
“That was before Brianna decided to tease us. She brought it up first,” Cora explained, then looked at Stella, her voice turning a little gentler. “Joy noticed after the first fight with the ants. She smells pheromones, remember?”
“Phero—oh. Goddess… that is embarrassing,” Stella said, reaching up to rub her face. “I didn’t think… well, that makes this awkward.”
“You’re telling me. If my mother finds out, she’s probably going to kick my ass,” Brianna said, wincing as she regained some sense of poise. “I didn’t… well, let’s just say that she had some bad experiences when she was younger and leave it at that. I hope you aren’t going to spread it around?”
Joy opened her mouth, but Cora decided to quickly cut her off.
“If you hadn’t poked fun at me, I wouldn’t have brought it up to begin with,” Cora replied, shrugging and pulling out the letter from the duke. “Anyway, let’s just move on, shall we? I suspect there aren’t going to be any surprises here, but I’d rather check to be sure.”
“Sure!” Joy said, sitting up eagerly, and Cora rolled her eyes, expecting Joy to be terribly disappointed by the contents.
So she proceeded to crack the seal and prove herself right.
Chapter 9
The morning began well enough for the caravan. It was traveling from Clarion to Irador, carrying a variety of trade goods for the city. Certainly, the merchants and guards were tense, with word spreading about the potential conflict with the Dark Kingdoms, but they’d seen no sign of them yet, and they were getting close to Irador, which helped them relax.
The landscape was rockier in the region, a place more well-known for its goats than any crops, and as such it was also home to mountain cats, dragonlings, serpents, and other monsters which some low-level adventurers used to level while making the caravan route safer. The road was safe enough most days, so they traveled at a quick pace, at least until the war cries surprised them.
Guards were just starting to turn in response to the sounds from the west when a deadly hail of arrows and crossbow bolts lashed out from the east, slamming into them while their backs were turned, resulting in harrowing casualties among the guards and merchants. Moments later a lightning bolt slammed into several guards, and a ball of fire torched still more. The attackers surged in from the west savagely, with demons, elves, humans, and orcs among their number, along with a single ten-foot-tall ogre in their lead, heavily armored in splint mail and wielding a massive warhammer in both hands which crushed every foe in his path.
The caravan never stood a chance, as the attackers killed the guards, plundered what they could from the wagons, and burned the rest. Not a single person was spared or escaped the caravan alive.
Not that they needed to, since some of them would revive and tell others what had happened, just as Alethus had planned.
“We’re back!” Joy exclaimed, almost bouncing into Sharptooth’s Armory and looking around as she did so.
Draegur Sharpfang looked up from a ledger, blinking at her, then set his quill aside as he grinned broadly, speaking warmly in response. “That you are! For most guests, I’d probably need to make certain I was addressing them correctly, but you stuck in my memory, Joy. You’re back a bit early, aren’t you? I thought you were going to be gone for longer.”
Like the last time Joy had visited, the man was dressed in nice clothing, this time in a deep green that Joy rather liked, even if she felt that red or blue were better colors. She found his hair fascinating, with the black and orange stripes, and the tail swaying behind him amused her for some reason.
The others were just barely getting through the doors, and Joy grinned back at him as she replied. “Maybe? We had a really weird trip! We went to the bear town, got ambushed by people from the Dark Kingdoms, ran away, got help from the apis, helped save the town, found out the Dark Kingdom people were doing bad things, fought army ants, killed the Dark Kingdom people, then killed more army ants. Then we came back!”
“That has got to be the most concise, yet accurate, summary of our trip I think you could come up with,” Brianna said, looking at Joy in amusement as Draegur stared at Joy, then looked at Brianna and the others.
“Wait, you were caught up in the horrid mess I heard enveloped Bearton?” Draegur demanded, looking less amused and more stunned by this point. “I heard about it, but I thought that the rumors had to be exaggerated. Was there really an entire swarm of army ants south of the city?”
“There was,” Cora confirmed, smiling at him, though she didn’t look entirely happy. Joy had to wonder why. “With the help of the apis and knights, we cut our way into them and killed the queen, which caused the ants to retreat. Otherwise, I suspect they’d still be there.”
Joy nodded vigorously, shivering as she added, “They ate everything in the areas they’d infested. All the bees, flowers, animals… everything! It was terrible.”
“It certainly sounds like it would be,” Draegur said, straightening a bit. “However, I suspect that you aren’t here to tell me what you were doing while you were away. You were here to ask about your equipment, yes?”
“That’s right,” Stella said, folding her hands in front of her. “Though we’ll understand if it isn’t ready yet. Apparently, there’s a possible war coming with the Dark Kingdoms, and we thought having the weapons would be particularly useful.”
“Mm, understandable,” D
raegur growled, nodding firmly. “Let me check with Resha and see if they’re done. I know she was ahead of schedule, but I’m not sure if she’s that far along.”
“Of course!” Joy said, her wings buzzing excitedly as she thought about the weapons. The luminous titansteel had been incredibly pretty, and she wasn’t sure how it would look when turned into a weapon or armor.
Draegur laughed as he turned to the door into the back and opened it, allowing a wave of warm air into the front room. Joy’s happiness dimmed as the smell of smoke and oil hit her, and she wrinkled her nose unhappily. She could not understand why anyone would want to work in places like that. Maybe they just didn’t smell things the same way as she did. What Joy did notice was a faint sound of metal rasping on metal, which struck her as odd. Still, she didn’t approach the door. Even if she wasn’t thrilled by the smell, the tiger-people might regard it as offensive. If it was their hive, she’d expect them to attack her.
“Resha? The apis and her adventuring party are back. Have you finished their gear yet, or should I tell them that they need to come back later?” Draegur asked, his voice clearly audible even turned away. He had a really deep voice, and the rasping sound stopped.
“They’re back? Already?” Resha demanded as something clattered in the background. “Good! I want to make sure that all of it fits right.”
“That sounds promising,” Brianna murmured, a grin growing on the human’s face, and Joy giggled.
“If you say so! Is this unusual?” Joy asked, tilting her head slightly.
Resha appeared in the doorway at about that moment, looking a lot like her husband, but with a wooden crate in her arms. She stepped through the door and set the crate down like it weighed nothing, speaking as she did so. “Yes, it is. I hadn’t touched luminous titansteel in a long time, so I wanted to make sure I could work it properly. I could, and did, so I spent extra time on your things every day. You’d better not break it.”
