Ashes of Verdenheld

by Jack Wright

  “Um… I’ll have to check that with Lord Severin…” The guard stammered in uncertainty.

  “No, you will not.” Caesia aggressively demanded. “This dragon could return at any moment, I have not time to waste! Now, you will let me through or there will be words with Lord Severin about the insolence of his men!”

  The panicked guard looked back at the portcullis, where another guard nodded fearfully in confirmation.

  “S-sorry, ma’am. Go right ahead.” The guard stuttered, returning to his post.

  “Thank you.” Caesia smirked as he turned his back.

  She gave Eris a slap on the back to prompt her along. The two walked silently through the city gates, until they were out of earshot of the guards.

  “Damn, that was awesome!” Eris laughed maniacally. “That guy was terrified of you!”

  “It’s easy to scare people when you’re a noble.” Caesia grinned in satisfaction. “Everyone always falls at your feet whenever you name-drop a powerful lord.”

  “I think we could have some fun with this.” Eris declared, a diabolical smile on her face.

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not. I don’t like to associate myself much with the nobility.”

  “Fine, but you’ll still do it when we need it, right?”

  “Oh, of course. Not that it always works though.”

  They stepped out from beneath the walls and into the outer city. Ahead of them was a long, straight road stretching across the Minaachen River and up to the central hill, while around them was a dense mess of poorly maintained stone houses. The buildings were battered and dirty, many owning a ramshackle appearance with window shutters and doors hanging precariously off their hinges. The streets were busy with swarms of peasants going about their day and the din of rolling carts, yelling merchants and conversing commonfolk filled the air.

  Eris looked around in confusion. “This is…”

  “Filthier than you expected?” Caesia guessed. “You’ll find that the common folk in Verdenheld are a fair bit worse off than those in the chiefdoms.”

  “How does everyone live like this?” Eris wondered, observing the ragged, unwashed clothes and dirty faces of the locals.

  “In Verdenheld, this is the ninety nine percent and I hear it’s not much better in Norskar. You think this is bad, just wait until you see how they treat abhumans…”

  “How are we even meant to know where to go? I can barely see past all these people.”

  “Well luckily, Tryzantopol is built around these ridiculously big hills. That one up ahead is our destination.”

  Caesia gestured to the hill ahead. At the centre of the hill was a mass of white, pillared buildings, clustered around a rigid stone fortress and surrounded by a secondary wall.

  “Why there?”

  “Well, being the only hill featuring Thyresian architecture, I imagine that this is the city’s designated acropolis. All Thyresian cities have one and I expect that is where we will find the city’s centre of security.”

  “You think they’ll reward us?”

  “I certainly wouldn’t mind. Come on!”

  Eris followed Caesia up the hill and into the city centre, on the way to which she got a fair few looks from concerned citizens wondering why there is a blood soaked girl wandering around the place.

  Caesia on the other hand, was trying to the best of her ability to avoid any physical contact with the commonfolk. They were so dirty and she didn’t want to risk getting a disease or maybe fleas or something of the sort. She weaved elegantly through the crowds, at times seeming like she was executing some kind of elaborate dance routine as she narrowly dodged passers-by. It was quite entertaining for Eris watch.

  Reaching the second wall, another guard stepped up. His outfit was similar to the gate guards, yet was somewhat better maintained. The painted sigil on his chestplate was far less scuffed and the iron was freshly polished.

  “Hold it right there. City centre’s off limits to-”

  “Step aside you bloody oaf!” Caesia snapped. “I have business with Lord Severin.”

  Noticing Caesia’s accent, the guard immediately withdrew and signalled for the gate to be opened.

  As they passed under the wall, the gritty, dull architecture of House Severin vanished, replaced by the elegant architecture of Thyresia. Along with the morbid architecture, the seas of peasants also became a thing of the past, replaced by a sprinkling of extravagantly dressed gentlemen.

  “Damn, this is nice!” Eris admired. “Let me guess, this is the rich part of the city?”

  “Got it in one.” Caesia confirmed. “Thyresian and inner city houses alike are far more desirable for the wealthy and powerful. I see what I meant by ‘riddled with inequality’?”

  The segregation between the rich and poor was shocking to Eris. In the chiefdoms there were no divisions of wealth. All proceeds went to the chief, who then provided good food and housing to all. It was a happy and ideal way of life for everyone.

  The inner city may have been a symbol of inequality, but it was undoubtedly beautiful. Untouched by the peasantry, the buildings were a perfect white, fully painted and flawlessly maintained. The streets were lined with lush trees and vibrant flowers. It was like a completely different world from the rest of the city, as if a second city was built within the other.

  Surrounded by beautiful marble buildings up ahead, was a colossal, sprawling keep built of rigid grey stone. The keep was enormous, dwarfing the rest of the acropolis itself and asserting the might of House Severin over the city. The walls were crawling with soldiers and the fiery banners of House Severin were strewn all across them. Severin was the militant arm of Verdenheld and they were happy to make that known.

  Eris and Caesia headed down the pristine street and into an open square, where a sloping path lead up to the acropolis’ peak.

  “Is that the barracks?” Eris asked, pointing eagerly to the keep.

  Caesia sighed at Eris’ constant questions. She understood Eris’ confusion, but her utter naivety was nonetheless a bit annoying. “No, that’s the keep. There’s likely a few barracks in there, but the administrative section will likely be one of these Thyresian buildings.”

  “They have more than one barracks?”

  “Of course, this is House Severin we’re talking about. They train almost all of the Kingdom’s soldiers - Tryzantopol and Jordenholm housed hundreds of thousands between them.”

  They stepped up onto even ground and Caesia surveyed the buildings ahead. The area was crowded with soldiers, merchants and nobles alike, the only people not in armour or finery being the cleaners and gardeners.

  “There, the security headquarters.” Caesia announced, signalling towards one of the marble buildings. “I expect they would handle bounties and whatnot.”

  Eris followed Caesia up to the doors of the building, conscious of the many suspicious eyes watching her.

  “Hold it there, miss.” One of the guards at the door commanded.

  This one was more heavily clad than the gate guards, fully suited up with scratched, battered steel armour and sporting an enclosed helmet. House Severin’s more experienced soldiers often preferred to let their armour become beaten and damaged to ensure that their enemies knew of their veterancy.

  The guard peered narrowly at her through his visor. “Before I allow you entry, I’ll need you to state your business.”

  “We’re here to discuss a bounty.” Caesia declared, hoping the guard didn’t say anything about Eris being drenched in blood.

  The guard looked at Eris, an eyebrow raised. “Yes, your friend here certainly has the looks of a bounty claimant. I’d say it’s about time women started pulling their weight on the battlefield.” The guard exclaimed cheerfully. “As you were.”

  The guard leaned back against the wall as Caesia and Eris passed through the door. The inside of the building was sleek and clean, with polished marble floors and elegant silver sconces. Ahead of them was a long desk manned by severa
l administrators, busily working away at paperwork.

  “Wow, he didn’t even call me girl this time.” Eris laughed surprisedly.

  “Despite appearances, not everyone in Verdenheld shares the same single minded attitude. Just most of them.”

  Caesia approached one of the administrators, a middle aged, balding fellow. He glanced up from his paperwork and placed his quill back into his inkpot.

  “Can I help you?” He muttered unenthusiastically.

  “We’re here for the bounty on the dragon.” Caesia declared proudly.

  “The dragon?” The administrator sneered, as if offended by her words. “You expect me to believe that you two killed a dragon?”

  “Yes.” She replied bluntly.

  “Hm, well I assume you have proof of this claim?” He muttered unenthusiastically.

  “That we do. Eris?”

  Eris dug into her backpack and presented her waterskin, dripping with blood and stinking of iron, to the administrator.

  “I think you’ll find this to be more than sufficient.” Caesia smiled cheekily.

  The administrator took the waterskin from her curiously and gagged as he brought it close. “Oh- what is that bloody smell?”

  “Exactly that - dragon blood.”

  “You consider this proof?” The administrator spat. “For all I know, the two of you could be murderers!”

  “I assume you have an alchemist somewhere back there?” Caesia gestured to the doorway behind the desk. “Get them to take a look. If it’s human blood, you can arrest us.”

  The administrator glared coldly at Caesia. He silently got up from his seat and shuffled into the back room.

  “Well, this could be going better.” Eris sighed anxiously.

  “Ah, it’s fine.” Caesia reassured. “Unless he’s off to call the guards because two crazy girls just handed him a sack of blood, in which case we are in deep trouble.”

  “Yeah… so, what you think the reward’ll be?”

  “What is it with you and getting a reward?” Caesia chuckled. “Is it not enough to just save thousands of lives?”

  “It is, but rewards are part of the adventuring experience!”

  Caesia smirked with a subtle roll of her eyes. She walked right into that one. “Alright, in that case I’d say a load of money. Money’s a given, but considering the dragon destroyed an entire city, I’d imagine the reward would be huge!”

  “Oh yeah?” Eris grinned excitedly. “Well, what you think you’ll do with your share?”

  “Well I suppose that depends on how much we get. Definitely some new clothes.”

  The front of Caesia’s jerkin had almost completely changed colour from all the blood from her nosebleeds. Not only did it look terrible now, but it stank like hell.

  “After that, I think I’d like to put some towards looking into… well, whatever that was I did on the mountain.”

  “Oh yeah, if you get the hang of that you’d be untouchable!”

  “Possibly.” Caesia sighed, intimidated yet somewhat excited by the prospect of this new ability of hers. “What about you? What will you do with your riches?”

  “I don’t know… I don’t really want anything, to be honest.”

  “A new sword perhaps?”

  “Nah, I’d prefer to stick with old reliable.” Eris smiled, patting her sheath. “She and I have been together since I could barely lift her.”

  “Really? And you never thought to give it a name?”

  Eris’ eyes lit up in realisation, a wobbly, ashamed smile on her face. “You know, the thought never crossed my mind… I’ll have a think.”

  The administrator emerged from the back room, a puzzled look on his that made Caesia grin in delight. “Um, it seems the results were conclusive.”

  “So…” Caesia smirked.

  The administrator sighed, dropping his uptight attitude. “It is dragon blood.” He mumbled ashamedly. “I do apologise for my attitude, I am somewhat touchy on the subject. I… had friends in Jordenholm, you see.”

  “Oh…” Caesia gasped, feeling immediately horrible for poking fun at the man. “I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

  “You needn’t be.” The administrator smiled. “I… thank you, for bringing that monster to justice.”

  “It was our pleasure, sir.” Eris grinned eagerly, ever the mood lightener.

  The administrator took a deep breath and cleared his head. He reached below the desk and pulled a disappointingly small pouch out from under it. “On behalf of Lord Alvus of House Severin, I bestow upon you the predetermined reward of one hundred gold pieces.”

  He slammed the pouch onto the desk, making a heavy clattering sound as the coins clashed together. Taking a few seconds to process his words, Eris’ disappointed frown quickly grew into an inhumanly large smile, while Caesia stared, dumbstruck at the tiny pouch, no larger than her hand.

  Caesia shook her head in amazement. “Bloody…”

  “Stars!” Eris laughed giddily. “That’ll last us half a lifetime!”

  The administrator smiled warmly as Eris shovelled the sack into her hands. “You deserve it. Verdenheld needs more heroes like you.”

  Caesia could see from Eris’ face the very moment she processed word ‘heroes’. She giggled quietly as Eris’ eyes flared with joyous, childish excitement. Adorable as Eris was about it, Caesia certainly couldn’t deny that it felt good. She supposed it wasn’t as impactful for her because every second away from Abenfurt was a dream come true.

  “Thank you, sir.” Caesia gushed. “We’ll keep up the good work.”

  Caesia shoved Eris towards the door, knocking her out of her euphoric trance. The pair turned to leave, both giddy with joy, although Caesia masked it for sake of appearances.

  Eris pranced down the steps to the administrative building in one bounding leap. As Caesia closed the door behind her, Eris threw her arms to the heavens in excitement.

  “I’m a hero!” She declared to the world, turning hundreds of confused heads across the acropolis.

  Caesia smirked and buried her face embarrassedly in the palm of her hand and followed her down the steps. The confused bystanders gradually went back to their business, choosing to ignore the screaming lunatic in the middle of the acropolis.

  Eris turned rapidly to Caesia and slid to her side. “So, clothes first?” Eris chirped hyperactively, shaking giddily, eyes afire with excitement.

  “Calm down, would you?” Caesia laughed, playfully slapping Eris over the shoulder. “We’ll go back to the square and take a look around.”

  “Okay!” Eris smiled, frolicking off down the street.

  Caesia stopped herself from calling after her, knowing it was pointless. She sighed with a timid grin and sauntered after her.

  Admiring the fine greenery of the acropolis as she wandered into the square, Caesia made a satisfied sigh. They had made it, despite all the odds arrayed against them. Eris was living her wildest dreams, while Caesia had finally found a life she was happy to live. She had much to concern herself with - the implications of this translocation business, the severity of the threat they intended to stand against - but none of that mattered, not today. Today, she would just be thankful for what she had, for the new opportunity life had given her.

  As she turned into the square, Eris came barrelling back towards her. Caesia shook her head amusedly as Eris’ foot caught on a paving stone and she staggered into a well dressed gentleman.

  “Sorry!” Eris called over her shoulder, not stopping for a second.

  The gentleman muttered annoyedly under his breath and continued on his way. Eris skidded to a halt in front of Caesia, still moving like a blur.

  “What is it, boy?” Caesia smiled mockingly, reaching out and ruffling Eris’ scruffy hair. “You found a bone?”

  “Get- no!” Eris laughed, erratically batting Caesia’s hand off her head, visibly annoyed yet not dropping the smile for even a second. “You remember that guy from the clearing?”

  “W
ith the moustache? How could I forget?”

  “I saw him!” Eris declared eagerly, flinging her hand out behind her. “He’s in that shop over there!”

  Caesia glanced across the square and through the window of the grocery store, where she recognised immediately the unforgettable masterpiece that was Albert Bexley’s moustache. She remembered now, he was a merchant from Tryzantopol.

  “Let’s go say hi!” Eris insisted, more of a command than a suggestion given that she was halfway across the square in seconds.

  The finely carved wooden door swept open with a ring of an attached bell, as Eris flung it aside. Albert was hunched over a stand, carefully adjusting a parsnip to fit with the delicate pattern of his display.

  “Hello, hello, I’ll be with you in just one moment!” Albert exclaimed.

  “Albert?”

  Albert paused in recognition and peered quickly over his shoulder, staring analytically for a moment before his eyes brightened in delight. “Erin! So good to see you.” He boomed, swivelling around from his precarious display.

  “Eris.”

  “That’s what I said.” He confidently insisted. “Ah, Casey!”

  Caesia slipped through the doorway besides Eris, having to edge it open with her feet as to not hurt her arms. Albert looked the girls up and down, one sporting a red gash across her face and the other’s arms caked crudely in bandages.

  “By God, look at the state of you two! Especially you, with that nasty gash you’ve got there.”

  Eris smirked shyly. She had tried to tell herself it wasn’t obvious, but there was no hiding it. Then again, she imagined that it probably made her look pretty cool.

  “Hm, this won’t do at all. In fact, you’re in luck.” Albert declared. “I’ve been thinking of an appropriate way to show my gratitude for your saving of my life.”

  Caesia smiled apologetically. “You don’t have to-”

  “Nonsense!” Albert roared cheerfully. “It would be my pleasure. You see, I’ve little use for most of this building’s second floor and considering you two assumedly have nowhere to stay…”