“I… think I’d like that,” Kitania said, a little breathless from the brief kiss. Then she leaned forward to kiss Niadra again, closing her eyes to enjoy the moment, and the comforting presence of someone she knew cared about her.
Cecilia stood there, considering what she’d just heard. She’d been about to enter the princess’s chambers when she’d realized they were talking, and what she’d heard was illuminating. While she’d had some suspicions about Niadra’s feelings for a while, the last few days had been interesting with how the princess had finally opened up. It was already causing a fair amount of gossip among the nobility, which had worried Cecilia a little.
In Cecilia’s mind, her greatest worry was that Niadra’s influence would wane. There were already multiple nobles trying to woo the handmaiden, both to get information on what was happening and because everyone believed that the princess’s star was on the rise. Cecilia didn’t disagree since Alserah had intervened personally to ensure that Niadra could get close to Kitania, and with the information that the demon had saved the goddess’s life… it seemed that she was right.
That led to the letter, which she’d been given by Ethris, and Cecilia looked down at the message which had been passed on by Lady Azalea. The letter wasn’t sealed, so she’d taken the time to read it herself, curious what message she’d be passing to Kitania. It hadn’t made much sense until she’d overheard Kitania’s explanation, though. Cecilia pursed her lips, then opened the letter to read it again.
Kitania,
I’m told to keep this short, so I will. Rose and I are coming to get you personally, and we’ll be there as soon as we can. I think about you every day and am relieved that you’re well. We’re coming.
Isalla
Now that she knew what Isalla’s relationship with Kitania was, the meaning of the words was clear, and at the same time they worried Cecilia. If she handed the letter to Kitania, it could destroy the burgeoning relationship between her and the princess. If that happened, it could not only destroy many of Niadra’s prospects among the nobility, but also remove Alserah’s support as well. If that happened, all the improvements to Cecilia’s status and that of her family would likely vanish.
“On the other hand… if she didn’t get this, and had more time to have her relationship with the princess grow…” Cecilia murmured, her thoughts churning quickly, and she smiled at the idea. It wasn’t that big of a deal, she didn’t think. If Isalla sent another message or two, it’d likely reach Kitania easily enough, but if she didn’t, it probably meant the relationship between the two wasn’t that deep, at least on the angel’s end.
“I’ll just tell her that a delegation was sent to retrieve her and leave it at that,” Cecilia murmured, folding the letter and putting it away. She’d burn it a little later, but she knew that wasn’t a perfect solution. There was still the original, but she couldn’t be bothered to do anything about that.
The more time Kitania and Niadra had to get close, the more likely it was that it would solidify Niadra’s new power base. That was more than enough for Cecilia, so she headed down the hall to her own room.
She wanted to give the two more time to themselves, rather than destroy the mood.
Chapter 27
Isalla stared as they stepped out of the temple of Estalia in Silken Veils, looking down at the plaza ahead of them in surprise. The teleportation hadn’t been nearly as bad as the one which had taken them to Estalia’s palace, and it also wasn’t as bad as the one Kitania had performed during their rescue of Rose, but her stomach was still churning slightly. That wasn’t why she was staring, though.
Lady Azalea stopped as well, likely at the sight of the thirteen drakes in the temple plaza, each of them with a saddle and pack-saddle on their backs. A couple of the ash-scaled creatures were snapping at each other, at least until the copper-scaled dragon that was half again the size of either of the creatures pinned one to the ground with a foreclaw and roared loudly. The drakes immediately cowered, while the pinned one froze in place. After staring at the drake for a moment, the dragon released it, and the drake carefully regained its feet and folded its wings submissively.
“May I ask what is going on?” Lady Azalea asked, looking at the human priestess curiously, and the white-robed woman smiled, showing off her perfect teeth as she did so.
“Of course,” the priestess replied, nodding toward the courtyard as she explained. “Due to the difficulty of ascending Hellmount or reaching it on foot, Her Majesty asked that I retain the services of one of Estalia’s premier transportation agencies to speed your journey. The Bronze Battalion are known to be one of the most reliable groups for transport between Estalia and Hragon, and they keep their mounts in line with a firm claw, as you just saw. The payment was such that one of the siblings chose to oversee your transport to Hragon’s coast personally, to ensure that you reach there without any trouble.”
“I see. Wait, siblings?” Isalla asked, a memory springing to mind, and she paused, then asked cautiously, “Ah… would they happen to have anything to do with Bell’s Imaginarium?”
The dragon looked up, despite being nearly a hundred feet away, and before they could speak the dragon strode closer, and Isalla realized the dragon was nearly twenty feet long without its tail, which she found rather imposing.
“I’m somewhat surprised to hear someone mention Mother’s establishment. Do you know her?” the dragon asked, his voice a deep bass as he looked at Isalla in curiosity. His eyes were a deep amber, and their slit pupils narrowed to focus on Isalla. The priestess didn’t reply, looking at Isalla curiously.
“Ah… yes, I do. I only met her once, but I stayed at the Imaginarium about… six weeks ago?” Isalla said nervously, her heartbeat quickening. The dragon had a lot of fangs. “I was traveling with Kitania at the time, though Bell knew her as Kanae.”
“Ah, auntie Kanae! That would explain it! I’m glad to hear that you were her companion,” the dragon said, grinning broadly, and revealing far too many sharp teeth, one of which looked like it had a gold ring around it, and continued enthusiastically. “I’d love to hear how you met her, too. I’m Seiber the Bronze, and am greatly pleased to meet you. Whom might you be?”
“I’m Isalla… formerly of the Order of the Phoenix. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Seiber,” Isalla replied breathlessly, a little shocked at the dragon’s attitude, though he did remind her of Bell a little. The lamia had also been rather enthusiastic, though at least Seiber hadn’t been the type to tackle her. After a moment, Isalla took a breath and introduced the others, starting with Rose. “This is Rose Emberborn, Eziel, and Vinara. We’re currently accompanying Lady Azalea Ikara and will be in your care.”
“I see. It’s a pleasure to meet you ladies and gentlemen, and I look forward to providing you with a safe flight and passage to Hragon,” Seiber said, raising a claw to his chest as he nodded deeply, looking at each of them in turn. “Despite the unruliness you may have seen earlier, the mounts we provide are highly trained, and they’ve never misbehaved in flight.”
“I see. These drakes seem quite different than the ones that serve as mounts back in the Forest of Sighs,” Azalea said, examining the drakes dubiously.
“That’s because these drakes are capable of breathing fire, at least a little, and are dangerous enough that most other flying creatures in the hells give them a wide berth,” Seiber explained, nodding toward the drakes with a grin. “Most mortal nations use common mountain drakes as mounts, not fire drakes. We prefer fire drakes for their intelligence, endurance, and ability to defend themselves.”
“Interesting.” Rose said, examining the drakes, then nodded warily. “It certainly will allow us to go farther than if we were relying on our wings. How far can they take us today? I doubt all the way to the coast.”
“Hah, no, of course not,” Seiber said, laughing as he turned to lead the way over to the drakes, which had settled down by this point. “There’s an aerie just on the other side of the portal where we’l
l take shelter for the night, then we’ll finish the journey tomorrow. You don’t need to worry about the humans taking issue with us, either, the Bronze Battalion makes certain to keep all our permits up to date.”
“You have permits?” Isalla asked, honestly taken aback. The idea of a dragon going into a human city to get permits just boggled her mind.
“Of course! It’s simply good business sense,” Seiber confirmed happily, letting out a booming laugh as he stopped next to the first of the drakes. “The initial negotiations with Hragon were a bit tense, simply because they didn’t quite believe that we wanted permits to fly our passengers through their territory, but once they realized we were serious, they were happy to take our coin. Why, the royal family even hires us themselves from time to time.”
“That is rather impressive. And your assistance will cut at least a week off the travel time, based on our trip down the mountain,” Azalea said, then paused, looking in the direction of Hellmount, then added, “Probably more. The climb would be much worse than the descent.”
“Hear, hear,” one of Azalea’s guards agreed quietly, though the man didn’t look terribly happy as he examined a drake.
“Definitely, one of those things I don’t envy about you ground-dwellers,” Seiber said, then grinned. “Now then, why don’t you all pick your mounts and get to packing? There’s only so much daylight left, and we’ve got a long flight ahead of us.”
Isalla nodded and glanced at Rose, smiling wryly as she unslung her pack. “This should be interesting. Not quite the way I expected to leave the Hells, but I’m not going to argue.”
“Me neither,” Rose agreed, and beyond her Isalla could see Vinara already securing her bags to the saddle of a drake. One of the bags was long and thin, which made Isalla suspect that it was a weapon for Kitania, but she didn’t know for sure. As she watched, the drake turned its head to sniff at Vinara, and the succubus scritched it behind an eye gently before continuing to prepare.
Isalla bit back a laugh and began securing her own gear. She was wearing her new armor and glanced down at the sky-blue surface of the enchanted armor happily once, then focused on preparing. She didn’t want to slow everyone else down, not when they were going to Kitania at last. The very thought sent excitement through her again.
The flight was long, as Isalla had expected, but she was pleasantly surprised at the speed the drakes could maintain over such a long period. Angels were far more maneuverable than the drakes, but their endurance was more limited, and they wouldn’t be able to maintain a similar speed for a more than a few minutes.
She’d taken a few minutes to pick out where the Fungal Abyss was in the forest around Hellmount’s base, and the broad, dark scar in the ground made her shiver slightly. She’d been able to spot the town where Kitania had lived easily once she’d found the Abyss, and how small it was truly shocked her. However, they were so high up that she eventually had turned her attention to the portal over Hellmount.
The portal was dark, just as the other side of it had been, and looking at it had caused Isalla to shiver. The portals warped reality, as those who climbed the mountain peak into the portal instantly appeared on the path along the exterior of the volcano on the other side, and Isalla hadn’t ever met anyone who could explain why that was, or why a flying creature didn’t slam into solid rock when they flew through the outer edge. She was more surprised that the drakes barely seemed to care as they flew through the portal, then up and out of the smoke that accompanied them.
Isalla’s first view of the sky as the sun was setting had been stunning. She’d had tears in her eyes as she looked at the familiar sky and filled her lungs with fresh air that didn’t have that faint scent of sulfur to it. The clouds were mostly white, and she shook her head, blinking back her tears as she finally felt more at home again. It was almost a shock to realize how nice it was to return to the mortal world, rather than living in the pervasive darkness of the hells.
They hadn’t flown far, though, as Seiber led the way toward a series of caves that’d been carved into a nearby mountainside, and Isalla had been able to see a road led to an entrance below the caves, indicating to her that it was more than just a couple of caverns.
Her assumption had proven accurate as they landed in a wide, obviously artificial, cavern, and a group of humans came out to help them down from the drakes, then quickly began tending to the mounts, taking them to be fed and bed them down. Then Seiber turned and cleared his throat.
“We’re here in the Hragon Aerie now, so the trip is halfway complete. Alas, I cannot fit into the common rooms of the Aerie without shapeshifting, and as such, I won’t be joining you at dinner this evening. However, if you’ll follow the lovely young woman there, her name is Helen, she’ll show you to your rooms and get you dinner and baths,” Seiber said, nodding in the direction of a stocky human woman with a pronounced chin. “Please be ready to leave at dawn, however, as that will allow us to reach the coast in excellent time.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, sir,” Lady Azalea replied, but she was standing uncomfortably, and from the way the woman was shifting, Isalla suspected she was somewhat saddle sore. “In the meantime, I believe I desperately need that bath. Thank you for your escort thus far.”
“You’re quite welcome, Lady Azalea. Now, I’m going to go in for a proper scale-shining before I rest,” Seiber replied, laughing loudly.
Isalla watched him go, and as he did, Rose spoke softly. “Isn’t it nice to be in the mortal world again? It may not be the heavens, but there’s something about the air… I’d adjusted to the hells so thoroughly that I didn’t even realize that I’d acclimated until we came out of the portal.”
“Agreed. I thought it was a faint scent of sulfur that pervaded everything, at least for a moment,” Isalla agreed, rolling her shoulders to unlimber them, then picked up her bags, feeling even more enthusiastic than she had before. “I think I understand why Kanae, Kitania, said that my nature would rebel at staying in the hells. The colors up here are just so much brighter.”
“It’s not just sulfur,” Vinara volunteered, smiling slightly. “However, if you want to smell the air up here properly, you might want to launder your clothing and take a bath. It won’t deal with the smell immediately, but it’ll reduce it at the least.”
“That’s an excellent idea. Thank you, Vinara,” Rose replied, smiling and glancing at Isalla. “Shall we find our rooms and see what we can do?”
“Sure, but we’d better hurry. It seems Lady Azalea wants a bath more than we do,” Isalla said, laughing under her breath as she nodded in the direction of the elves, who were quickly following Helen.
“True, so—” Rose began, then paused and looked at Vinara as the woman began picking up her numerous bags, then asked, “Would you like a hand with all of that?”
“No, I’ll be fine. Go ahead and get situated; I’ll be along soon enough,” Vinara replied, shaking her head as she smiled, hefting the item that Isalla thought was a cloudpiercer, even if it was a little short.
“As you wish. We’ll see you soon, then,” Rose replied, then took Isalla’s arm and started down the hallway.
Isalla smiled as she did her best to keep up with Rose, having to walk a little more quickly as she did so. After a few seconds, she asked mischievously, “Do you think they have baths big enough for both of us?”
Rose laughed, grinning broadly as she replied, her tone teasing, “We’ll just have to wait and see. You got spoiled in the palace, didn’t you?”
“Kitania’s house had a large bath, too!” Isalla protested quickly, blushing as she looked to the side. “But… maybe a little? I like the larger baths, where I can spread my wings. And have company.”
Rose laughed, then leaned down and whispered back, “So do I. Let’s see what they have, hm?”
Isalla smiled happily, and picked up her pace, enough that Rose had to speed up as well.
Chapter 28
As Mist came into sight, Kitania examined it curiously.
While it wasn’t the first elven city she’d seen, not even the first one in this part of the world, it was the first time she’d seen one of the local cities when she wasn’t part of a besieging army, and the difference was rather stark.
The countryside was slightly hilly, and trees covered most of it, though there were farms in occasional open sections of the forest. The last time Kitania had seen a place like this, the trees had been burned by lead elements of the army, and the defenders had stripped all the fields of any crops to prevent the attackers from being able to forage easily. The city itself was far more natural in appearance than the ones in the southern continents, with relatively short walls, and frequent groves inside the walls. Most of the city was stone, which struck Kitania as a little odd, but she supposed it’d been adopted from humans over the millennia of war.
Thinking about it, the palace had also impressed Kitania a great deal. The central palace was impressive enough, but there weren’t one, but two separate walls around the grounds, and a small town was nestled between the rings, where a large temple of Alserah was the central draw. It took Kitania a little while to realize that the palace was a holy site in the Forest of Sighs, but once she did, it helped explain just how upset the elves had been about her intrusion.
Even so, she felt a little uncomfortable sitting in the carriage and surrounded by guards on horseback. Kitania knew that the guards were there for Niadra, but it felt wrong to be guarded as they approached the city. Even worse was that she didn’t have a weapon, which made her feel naked.
“Is something wrong?” Niadra asked, her voice causing Kitania to jump, if only slightly.
“Hm? No, I’m just looking at Mist,” Kitania replied, pulling away from the window as she felt her cheeks heat slightly. She looked at Niadra, who was wearing a far more modest dress than she normally did, then continued. “Why would something be wrong?”
Mortal Gods (Mantles of Power Book 2) Page 23