“Ahh, that explains it! I wondered why we hadn’t seen much beyond your shielding rings,” Sella said, her eyes brightening. “Still, it seems dangerous.”
“It is,” Ruethwyn admitted, sitting back again. “I just can’t not try. If I abandoned everyone else, I’d regret it for all my life. Not to mention that Essryl might hunt me down and kill me since I suspect she’d be very disappointed in me.”
“That’s… well, I guess I can understand. It seems horribly unsafe, though,” Wenna said, looking unhappy.
“It definitely is that, but at the moment, you’re facing a far more immediate danger,” Barton said, his expression heavier than most of the others. “You’re going into the Frostglades, Ruethwyn, or at least planning to do so. Do you have any idea what is inside their borders?”
Ruethwyn paused, considering him for a long moment before replying. “I have some idea of the danger, yes. The Frostglades are locked in an eternal winter, with nodes of snow and ice scattered throughout the realm. Winter fey abound within the borders, from hostile ice gremlins to snowshadows, and that doesn’t even take into account the more sinister, intelligent types of fey. Mana storms can strike at any moment, dropping the temperature from its natural state to a magical cold far more dangerous to those caught outdoors… and then there are the magical beasts that live in the woods, such as frostwolves.
“Yet even should one avoid all those dangers, there are those who claim the Frostglades as their own, an enclave of the fair folk. Those of the winter court, as these are most likely aligned, tend to be more hostile than others of their kindred throughout the continent, and one must treat them with respect, including leaving behind all tools of iron, though steel does not offend their sensibilities,” Ruethwyn continued in a steady voice, though she was amused by how the others all had looks of surprise and just a bit of shock on their faces. “If you manage to befriend them, however, the fair folk are among the most honorable, hospitable species across the face of Kavarn. My teacher once managed to reach the city of Valisair at the heart of the Frostglades, and that is my goal, Sir Vintas. If there is a way for me to be healed within the Frostglades, that is where it likely is.”
“Huh. Well, I suppose you do have a good idea of some of the dangers. However, I still want to make sure you understand some of the others,” Barton replied, sounding surprised. “In fact, Sella can tell you about one.”
“Oh no… don’t remind me,” Sella said, shivering slightly.
“Sella?” Ruethwyn asked, blinking at the other woman.
“It’s just… look, the snow never melts, right? Or almost never does. I don’t know why it hasn’t formed mountains yet, but it’s deep,” Sella said, pulling a blanket up to her chest, to Ruethwyn’s amusement. At Ruethwyn’s nod, Sella continued. “So, some areas of powdery snow get super-deep and are infused with magic. I’m sure you’ve heard of quicksand, and this is like that, but made of snow. The only sign of it before you wander right into it is that the snow is generally slightly whiter and smoother than other sections. It’s hard to spot, which is why I blundered into a patch as a girl.”
“That does sound problematic,” Tadrick murmured.
“It is,” Barton agreed. “Now, some other problems… I don’t need to explain the possibility of falling into entire underground complexes of tunnels, filled with frost adapted vermin, I hope? Good. Now…”
Ruethwyn sat forward to listen since Barton at least had direct experience with the Frostglades. As good as books might be for general information, they didn’t tend to have all the answers, and she did have a few specific questions for him.
Chapter 32
Catching Anara’s wrist, Essryl smiled as she calmly used the young woman’s limb as leverage to flip her onto the ground. Anara hit the sand hard, knocking the air from her lungs, but at least this time the young woman didn’t bite her tongue. That had been an early lesson for the young woman, and despite Anara’s natural grace, she was having a hard time facing Essryl. Not that it was anything close to a fair contest.
“Not bad, Anara, but you’re still making it easy to anticipate your movements,” Essryl said, placing a foot on Anara’s chest to keep her from getting up. “I can see them coming long before you take action, so even if you could use the lightning movement technique, I’d be able to dodge them before you started the attacks.”
“You’re… also faster than a diving hawk,” Anara gasped, gulping in air. She didn’t look too discouraged, though, which was the important thing.
“I am,” Essryl agreed, taking her foot off Anara’s chest, then helping her up. “However, even most of the Shadowguard would see it coming, and they aren’t as fast as me. Your training in dancing helps you learn the rhythms and movements easily, but it also leads you to add additional unnecessary movements to your attacks. Those allow your opponent to anticipate and dodge you, or even use them to hurt you in turn. It’s a bad habit that you need to break early on, before it becomes ingrained.”
“I’m not trying to do it. I just… happens,” Anara said, looking annoyed as she stared at her hands.
“Yes, it does. And I’ll continue throwing you into the sand until you correct it,” Essryl replied, smiling in amusement. “It’s not enjoyable, but few things truly are. Breaking your bad habits is simply tedious, as I’d far rather we moved on to more advanced techniques.”
“Fine, then,” Anara replied, letting out a heavy breath. “I should’ve known that this wouldn’t be easy.”
“The truly worthwhile endeavors in life are rarely easy. As I imagine Ruethwyn will be discovering before long,” Essryl agreed, smiling broadly.
“You seem far too happy about that. You said she was going to the Frostglades, didn’t you?” Anara asked, taking her stance a few feet away. At Essryl’s nod, she continued. “What’s even there?”
“Oh, she’s going there in the hopes of getting the curse preventing her injuries from being healed removed. She doesn’t know whether or not it’ll work, but she’s trying,” Essryl explained.
Anara suddenly lunged forward, this time attempting to kick one of Essryl’s feet from under her. The attempt was better than the last, but Essryl easily sidestepped it, blocked the follow-up punch, and threw Anara onto the ground again.
“Better,” Essryl said pleasantly, grinning. “As to what’s there? Power, Anara. Power that even I respect.”
An hour and a half later, Essryl opened the door and let Anara slowly limp out of the training room. Essryl didn’t think that she was going to have many bruises, but she imagined that Anara wouldn’t believe that.
“There we are, Anara. Tomorrow will be more of the same, so I’d recommend taking a warm bath and trying to prepare yourself,” Essryl said brightly, grinning as Anara winced.
“Right… prepare myself for more punishment, got it,” Anara said, sighing heavily.
“Punishment? This isn’t that, Anara… I didn’t leave you in a state where you needed healing,” Essryl replied, closing the door as she looked at her erstwhile student. “Now, I could punish you if you’d prefer that. Oddly, it does help some students learn, in my experience.”
“Ah, no, no… that won’t be necessary,” Anara said quickly. As she spoke, Essryl caught a glimpse of Lissa poking her head around the corner. The young woman didn’t look as nervous as she usually did, and Essryl thought she saw Leticia’s touch on her, at least in how the young woman’s hair had been styled, and her dress.
“Alright, Anara. Now, what is it, Lissa?” Essryl asked, looking over at her.
“Good morning, Mistress Essryl,” Lissa said, giving a slight curtsey. Her voice was a bit hesitant, but at least it was better than the last several times. “Leticia asked me to let you know she heard a dog-like creature sniffing around the door to the main palace. I also wanted to ask if I was going to get any more lessons.”
“A dog-like creature? I didn’t think they let the hunting dogs into the palace…” Essryl murmured, frowning. She didn’t like the im
plication of what it might be up to, either. After a moment, she nodded. “I’ll deal with the problem, Lissa. As for lessons, certainly. Why don’t you help Anara to the baths while I check on this dog? I’ll meet you in the classroom we used.”
“Of course, Mistress Essryl,” Lissa said quickly, bowing her head for a moment, then rushing over to Anara. “Are you alright, Anara?”
“I feel like someone has been hitting me with a tenderizer,” Anara said grimly, wrapping an arm over Lissa’s shoulders, then glancing at Essryl nervously before adding. “I’ll be alright, it’s just… I’m sore.”
Essryl laughed softly and turned to head for the stairs. The training room was in the basement, since she thought it was best to keep it near the baths. She knew some of the other women were taking second-hand lessons from Anara and Lissa, but nothing much was coming of it. They could just ask her to join the lessons, but they seemed to be too afraid of Essryl to dare. It was a shame, since having someone near Anara’s skill level in the lesson might help her learn.
Climbing the stairs, Essryl frowned as she caught the faint scent of sulfur. It was a scent she was used to noticing near Resvarygrath, but he rarely came into this wing, and she’d know if he had. The other option was the fire demon, Hekara, and that would be… annoying. More than merely annoying, in fact.
Murmuring a spell, Essryl warded her body against fire, then hardened her skin so it would be like stone against attacks. If it was Hekara, she wanted to scare her properly, and few things did that with demons like showing yourself to be immune to their attacks.
The smell grew stronger as she approached the door leading out of her wing, and Essryl’s annoyance grew as she heard something on the other side. It wasn’t one of the hunting hounds, because they weren’t as large as this one was, and it was very distinctly sniffing around the entrance, and occasionally shoving against it.
“Hellhound,” Essryl said in distaste, not merely annoyed anymore. Hellhounds were common minions in some of the demonic planes, and that gave her a good idea of what was going on. She considered for a moment, then shrugged and opened the door.
The dog on the other side of the door had fur that seemed to seamlessly melt into fire, and the creature had a mouth full of oversized fangs. It raised its head abruptly and lunged toward Essryl. She’d intended to let it bite her, but her instincts took over, and before Essryl knew what she was doing, her leg moved and her kick sent the hellhound flying sideways into the wall.
Growling, the creature started to climb to its feet, but Essryl stepped forward, her voice calm. “Oh no… none of that. You just attacked me, and that tells me a lot.”
Essryl seized the hellhound by the throat and picked it up, twisting its head so she could look it in the eyes. Its claws scraped against her unarmored arm uselessly, almost drawing sparks, the flames washed uselessly off her skin, and Essryl could see the growing fear in its crimson eyes. After a moment, she smiled at it.
“Ah, so now you realize just what a poor decision you’ve made? Good. It’s funny… even most demons forget that hellhounds are intelligent. Not terribly smart, I’ll admit, but you can understand me,” Essryl said pleasantly. “Now, are you going to slink back to your summoner with me in tow, or am I going to make an example of you, hound? I’ll show everyone exactly how much of your body you can lose before dying, which should be quite educational. I happen to know you don’t need teeth, eyes, or any of your limbs. A fair number of internal organs aren’t strictly necessary, either.”
The hound whimpered, its paws stopping their struggles and its tail curling up between its legs. It was giving her a very nervous look now, and that made her happy. Making an example of it would be far too much work for her taste, but she was willing to carry out the threat if necessary.
“Good, I see we understand one another. I’m going to set you down, and you lead the way,” Essryl said, then extended her arm and dropped the hound.
The hellhound managed to land mostly on its feet, and the moment it regained its balance, the creature backed away. As it did so, Essryl looked around the hallway and her mood grew still worse. She didn’t see any of the usual servants, and her girls weren’t the only ones who worked in the palace. If a hellhound dared attack her, they certainly wouldn’t be shy about attacking anyone else. Finally, she nodded, looking at the hellhound.
“Go, then. I need to have words with your summoner… Hekara, I imagine,” Essryl said.
The hellhound let out another growl, this one oddly plaintive, then slowly began to stalk down the hallway. Essryl followed, and the lack of any servants in sight made her anger grow. If Resvarygrath had knowingly let the demon get his servants killed, she was going to be upset with him, but she was going to keep that conversation for later. In fact, this might take longer than she expected, so she murmured a spell, making a gentle gesture as she did so, her eyes fixed on the hellhound.
“Lissa, the problem will likely take longer than I expected. Take a leisurely lunch before going to the rooms and let everyone know not to exit the wing until I say otherwise,” Essryl murmured, then let the spell take her words to Lissa’s ears. It wouldn’t bring a reply, but that didn’t matter to her. She didn’t want any of her charges to be injured.
A second hellhound padded around a corner and growled, tensing as it saw Essryl. For her part, Essryl put a hand on a dagger, prepared to deal with it if it came after her. The first hound growled loudly, though, and the new hound paused. A moment later, it gave a slightly quizzical whine, and the first hound barked at it firmly, causing the hound to back off.
“Didn’t want your friend to get banished, I see. Well, you’d best tell the others not to hurt any of the staff. If anyone is dead, all of you are going to be banished,” Essryl told the two, smiling thinly. “Any injuries after this point are going to leave me extremely upset, too.”
The new hound looked skeptical, but the first hound yipped at it, causing a look of worry to appear in the new one’s eyes. A moment later, it turned and trotted down the hallway, letting out the occasional bark as it went, to Essryl’s amusement. She’d never dealt much with hellhounds, but these were obviously a bit more intelligent than she’d thought.
Following the first hound, Essryl eventually heard the sound of chanting from a room ahead of her. When she got to it, the door had been torn from its hinges and set aside, and what had been a nice sitting room was a disaster.
The chairs and sofa had been shoved to the side of the room, and numerous claw marks marred their surfaces, while the floor had been uncovered, one of the rugs half-charred, so that a wide summoning circle could be etched into the floor. Facing away from the door was Hekara, and the demoness was chanting as red light surrounded her, another summoning obviously in the middle of being performed. Taking one look at the room, Essryl decided that she didn’t need more summons.
With a murmured spell, Essryl ripped the mana from the circle and shattered Hekara’s ritual. The light winked out with the sound of an implosion, and the hellhound yelped, then hid to the side of the door, climbing behind the sofa and dealing more damage to the furniture as it did so. Hekara spun around, anger on her face.
“How dare you interrupt me?” The demoness exclaimed in rage, fire coalescing in one hand. “I ought to—”
Essryl noted the ball of fire but ignored it. Part of her was tempted to restrain the demon physically, but she decided not to do that. She’d be far too tempted to kill the demon. Instead, she cast a spell, just as the ball of fire was thrown at her chest.
Hekara’s eyes went wide as the orb washed over Essryl without effect, and then the Illisyr finished her spell and thrust out her hand. The demon went flying backward into the wall hard enough to shake the room, then Essryl raised her hand, slamming the demon into the ceiling, and lowered it, hammering her into the floor firmly, face down in the center of her circle.
“Shut up,” Essryl said calmly.
The demon tried to rise, but Essryl stepped into the room and put a boot
on her back, ignoring the heat of the spectral, flaming wings that beat at her. They could do damage, Essryl knew, but her spell was more than potent enough to allow her to ignore them.
“What do… you think…” Hekara gasped, looking stunned, and a bit of orange-red blood seeping from her nose, looking almost like the blood itself was infused with fire.
“I told you to shut up,” Essryl said, her tone flattening. “I’m extremely upset with you right now, Hekara. You are a guest in My Lord’s palace, but you’re very near to convincing me to revoke any offer of hospitality he may have given you. Now, you’ll listen to me carefully, or I’ll banish you here and now.”
Hekara didn’t say anything, which made Essryl smile. After a few moments, she continued, her voice calm again, despite the anger seething inside her. “You dealt damage to My Lord’s palace, which is why I know that you didn’t receive his permission for what you did. There are dedicated spellcasting chambers in the palace, but you’ve obviously not bothered to ask about such. Worse, your little minions are extremely poorly behaved. One of them attempted to attack me, and another was going to before the first warned it off. Now, I’m going to lay down a few rules, as My Lord appears to have neglected to inform you of how things work here.”
“Would you get off of me?” Hekara wheezed, anger in her voice.
“No. This is to make my point clear, demon,” Essryl said flatly, pressing down on Hekara, not willing to use the woman’s name. “I am Lord Resvarygrath’s right hand, and I am the one he tasks with keeping his trophies safe. His mortal trophies, that is. You endangered them, and that makes me upset, let alone what may have happened to his other servants. Now, if your summons have killed so much as a single servant, I’m going to banish every last one of them, and you will not be allowed to summon another while you remain in the palace. I will have the damage here repaired, but you’re going to personally apologize to Lord Resvarygrath for such being required and give your word that you will not cause more damage.
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