Herald of Shalia 5

by Tamryn Tamer

  “Wonderful, thank you very much,” Herald Luciana said, smirking at the group. “You can have a seat wherever you want Amaya, but just so you know the pudding is going to be on my side of the table.”

  “Pudding?” she said excitedly while rushing over to the head of the table.

  “I just wanted that out of the way so we could skip the nonsense where you insist that you’re some merchant from Zira,” Herald Luciana said with a smile. “We both know who you are and what you are here for.”

  “How long have you known?” Frost asked as he attempted to scan the woman and failed.

  “I’ve known of your arrival since about an hour after you arrived,” she answered while ignoring his attempt to scan her. “Maybe sooner. Basically, however long it took for the runner at the docks to inform me of Haru Bloodtail’s arrival.”

  “Don’t look at me like that!” Madam Gardenia said as Frost glanced at her. “I didn’t…”

  “Herald Frost!” Herald Luciana laughed as she took her seat. “Or should I call you Sebastian? Do you have a preference? Based on what I’ve heard your friends call you Frost but this whole Lord Sebastian nonsense has really put a wrench in things.”

  “Frost is fine,” he answered. “Herald Frost if you want.”

  “Luciana is fine if Frost is fine,” she replied nonchalantly. “Anyway, Miss Bloodtail didn’t inform on you if that’s what you were thinking. I’ve been looking into you ever since you killed Magnus Law…what a ridiculous name by the way. You can tell a lot about a herald by the moniker he or she chooses and Magnus Law,” the woman laughed. “I mean, why not just name yourself God? Your name is much nicer, Sebastian Frost. It makes me think of a knight on a snowy mountain. Very romantic. I assume that’s why you chose it.”

  “My parents chose it,” Frost replied. “I didn’t think to change it.”

  “That’s even better!” Luciana said while sitting down. “Back on topic, you’re married to Darius Asmund’s sister and you’ve killed a herald. Obviously, I’m going to be keeping an eye on you. During the course of my investigations, I found out about your connection with Miss Bloodtail and had asked to be notified when she returned to Goldsail. I honestly figured that she would return alone and intended to interrogate her about you but can you imagine my surprise when I found out she brought the mysterious Lord Sebastian that happens to do business with both Zira and Pluma. You didn’t even bother hiding the fact that you slept with demihumans! Also, about the name choice, really? I know that your first name isn’t widely known but come on, it’s known. You took hiding in plain sight to a bit of an extreme. At least Mitty there tried to be clever.”

  “Who said we were hiding?” Frost asked. “Haru insisted that if she were to bring me to Goldsail that we weren’t permitted to lie about our identities or our reason for coming here. She’s very loyal to the city and made us promise…”

  “I’m not going to flay your fluffy fox Frost,” Luciana said while rolling her eyes. “I understand. Oh! One moment. Drinks have arrived.”

  A team of butlers brought in carts filled with drinks and small appetizers. They set the plates down around the table and offered to pour their drinks before leaving the room.

  “And food?” Amaya asked.

  “And food,” Luciana said while patting the Florenne’s fluffy pink hair. “And you can eat as much as you want because you are a special little girl and we’re going to become the best of friends!”

  “We are?” Amaya said cheerfully. “Really?”

  “Of course!” Luciana said as the waiters began setting appetizers and drinks in front of everybody. “We’re both very special people that are directly connected with the gods themselves so it’s only natural we should be friends!”

  “Oh! Okay!” Amaya said as she stared at the food. “Can I eat now?”

  “Eat all you like my adorable little friend,” Luciana said. The herald glanced at Frost as he stared at his food, wondering if she’d tampered with it in some way. “Oh, come on now, Frost. We’re having this dinner so I can show you some appreciation for helping me find this adorable little girl! I never would have discovered her without you!”

  “How did you realize that I was after her?” Frost asked.

  “I mean, I didn’t at first but you made it kind of obvious,” she chuckled. “You brought your prophet which meant that you needed her for something. When you sent her off on some mysterious task while you went dancing, one of my agents followed her which led us to Amaya here. I still didn’t know her exact value until after we purchased her. But, once she told me about the bossy lady, I realized she was a prophet. At least I suspect she is. My prophet is a bit of a drunken womanizer and I’m not entirely sure where he is at the moment. So, he’s been unable to verify it for me but Amaya hasn’t given me a reason to distrust her. She’s a very good girl and very important as well.”

  “Because I’m a prophet?” Amaya asked while eating sliced melon.

  “Because you’re the Prophet of Riliandra,” Luciana said. “You see, Riliandra recently lost her herald and her prophet. As her new prophet you are going to be the most important person to all of her followers. They will do whatever you ask of them and it’s a very big responsibility.”

  “Oh,” Amaya said. “I don’t know about that. The bossy lady says I just have to repeat what she tells me to say and I’ll be given whatever I want.”

  “That sounds like Riliandra,” Frost chuckled as he tried to figure out what he could offer for the girl.

  Due to the slave contracts, taking Amaya was out of the question. If she enforced the contract the young Florenne would be put through excruciating pain. He also suspected that Luciana wouldn’t simply hand her over without getting something in return.

  “Okay Luciana,” Frost smiled. “We should probably talk about this situation with Amaya...”

  “Later,” she said as food was carted in. “Food is arriving. Besides, I can’t make a decision about this situation unless I get to know you.”

  “You seem to know a lot about me already,” Frost argued.

  “Oh please,” Luciana scoffed. “I know a few things you’ve done and an alarming amount about your sex life. By the way, is everything I heard true?”

  “Definitely!” Zinnia offered up with an excited nod. “The songs are all true!”

  “They’re not all true,” Iris said. “At least I don’t think they are.”

  “There are some pretty convincing details in some of them,” Jasmine mumbled.

  “Depends on what you heard,” Frost said while glaring at the women. “And is this really appropriate around Amaya?”

  “Hm?” Luciana glanced at Amaya and shrugged. “I don’t see why not. She’s of marrying age.”

  “Herald Frost finds the marriage of children to be particularly offensive,” Madam Gardenia said proudly. He felt her foot slide up his leg beneath the table as she smiled at him. “He also has a particular fondness for mature beauties.”

  “That’s a nice way of saying he has an old woman fetish,” Jasmine said.

  “I really wish you would all stop spreading that,” Frost said. “And you’re supposed to be on your best behavior.”

  “The herald was the one that asked about your sex life,” Jasmine said. “It would have been rude not to participate in the conversation.”

  “She has a point,” Iris said.

  “I’m really more interested in whether the herald truly lies with all of you,” Luciana said. “It’s so strange.”

  “I understand people in Nivara finding it strange but I don’t understand why other heralds find it strange,” Frost said. “Did the world you were pulled from have demihumans and did you treat them similarly? I don’t really understand how you could look at any of the women here and not find them stunning. Erena, Haru, Jasmine, Iris, and Zinnia are all absolutely breathtaking.”

  The women all stifled giddy laughter.

  “Did your world have demihumans?” Luciana asked, avoiding his ques
tion.

  “I asked you first,” Frost said.

  “Fine. Mine did,” Luciana said. “Although they went by different names and their appearances varied greatly from those in this world. Now, did yours?”

  “No,” Frost said. “Maybe that’s why I’m so comfortable with it.”

  “I suppose that might be the difference,” Luciana said. “Still, I would assume a human would still have a preference for humans.”

  “I wouldn’t say I have preferences either way,” Frost said while finishing his second glass of wine. “I sleep with humans and demihumans all the same.”

  “So then, what’s your favorite demihuman to lay with?” Luciana asked, listening with great interest. Every woman at the table swiveled their heads toward him in unison.

  “I don’t rate them against each other,” Frost said.

  “That’s not an answer,” Cassia said while leaning toward him. “You can be honest, Herald Frost. Just tell her that nothing compares to my perfect daughter.”

  “I can assure you that he doesn’t cuddle with your perfect daughter as passionately as he cuddles with me,” Madam Gardenia said while glaring at her.

  “Ha!” Jasmine said proudly. “Herald Frost has personally told me that my pussy is the absolute best!”

  “He’s told me that too!” Iris said.

  “That’s why compliments given while he’s inside of you don’t count,” Zinnia said.

  “Inside you?” Amaya gave them a confused look.

  “Let’s move away from this topic of conversation. There are children present and I thought you wanted to get to know me,” Frost said.

  “I am getting to know you,” Luciana said. “You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats a woman.”

  “Ahem,” a guard stepped into the doorway and stomped his foot. “Now presenting Master Sarra of Hangman’s Trading Company!”

  “There’s really no need for that,” the woman said, patting the guard’s shoulder as she walked past. “I apologize for being late. I wasn’t quite finished with my work.”

  “It’s absolutely fine Sarra,” Luciana said as she rose from her seat. The herald walked over and kissed the woman on the cheek while embracing her. “Did you finish everything?”

  “I did,” Sarra said while handing Luciana a large ledger. “Pleasure to see you again, Lord Sebastian.”

  “You were working for her,” Frost chuckled.

  “I never hid that,” Lady Sarra said. “In fact, I was rather up front about my reason for being at the auction. I was investigating everybody there.”

  “I suppose you did say that,” he sighed. “Is that a report on me?”

  “If you wish to know the contents, the price is twenty-five thousand rel,” Lady Sarra said while taking a seat opposite Amaya. “Hello, Amaya.”

  “Good evening, Miss Sarra,” Amaya said. “Do you come over every night?”

  “Not typically,” Lady Sarra said.

  The herald sauntered back to her seat while flipping through pages in the ledger. She reached the end of the detailed document before sitting down then closed the book and set it on the table.

  “Most people think that rumors have no value,” Luciana said. “But the rumors themselves can be analyzed and compared. You can actually tell quite a bit from the types of rumors that spread. For instance, the rumors and songs about your couplings. Even if they were just rumors, one could deduce that you treat demihumans with kindness. If you gather enough rumors and then compare them to the real thing, you may find something resembling an accurate profile.”

  “That depends on the deductions,” Frost said while glancing at Lady Sarra. “Darius Asmund is rumored to be a violent warlord and I can attest that he isn’t. At least no more than anybody else.”

  “You need to compare the rumors against the real information you have,” Lady Sarra said. “In King Asmund’s case, his troops neither rape nor pillage meaning he is not your typical warlord. So, I would look deeper into the rumors and find that prior to murdering the Herald of Riliandra, he was a respected general and hero of the people. I would also discover that when he killed the previous king as well as anybody with a claim to the throne, he did it mercifully. He also killed many of the noble families affiliated with the temple of Riliandra. I can’t speak to his motivations but one possible deduction is that King Asmund found himself at odds with the Herald of Riliandra and his only option was to kill him. Once he killed the Herald of Riliandra, he had no choice but to take control of the entire country or accept death. But I would also notice his aggressive actions have decreased since taking control of the country which suggests he’s looking for stability.”

  “The point being that you can tell a lot about a person if you have dozens of rumors and one truth,” Luciana said.

  “And what do you know about me?” Frost asked.

  “You are a kind and intelligent man that loves demihumans. Although, you seem to have a bit of a violent streak. I mean, murdering innocent people for the actions of others?” Luciana replied.

  “Huh?” Amaya looked down the table at him. “You murder people?”

  “Herald Frost is not like that,” Iris said confidently. “He only kills bad people!”

  “That’s right,” Zinnia said. “The only people he hurt were people that deserved it.”

  “That’s not entirely true though, is it?” Luciana said while tapping the ledger. “I’ve heard rumors about a certain guard outpost. I won’t go into details in front of the child. But can you say that every person at the outpost deserved what happened to them? Really? There were thirty men there. Surely at least a few of them were simply soldiers that walked to the outpost every day for work and returned home to their wives and children. Are you sure that there wasn’t one pregnant wife waiting for her husband to return? I just can’t help but think there must have been a handful of innocent men whose wives had to explain to their children that their father’s not coming home.”

  “You’re one to talk,” Erena said while dabbing her mouth with a napkin. “How many demihumans found themselves orphaned because you forced their parents to serve in the military?”

  “Such boldness Lady Whitetail,” Luciana chuckled. “I appreciate your honesty. To answer your question, as many as were necessary. I needed soldiers that the public wouldn’t mind dying.”

  “You didn’t want to risk human lives,” Jasmine said angrily.

  “I’m fine risking human lives,” Luciana said indifferently. “I honestly didn’t care where the bodies came from. I just needed bodies. But the people in the cities were beginning to become unruly due to the war taking so many lives and the nobles were reluctant to force more of the people to the frontlines. So, I suggested demihumans. I needed bodies. If you want to blame anybody, blame General Asmund for being too good at his job.”

  “Don’t you feel the least bit bad about it?” Zinnia asked. “I would feel terrible if people I partied with died.”

  “Not particularly. I didn’t know them,” Luciana said while staring at Frost. “I am a herald, much like Frost. We don’t think about lives the same way those born into this world do. It’s why Magnus had no issue torturing people and why Frost doesn’t lose sleep over murdering some innocent guards. The truth is, Nivara tends to feel fairly beneath us since the world is so easy.”

  “Herald Frost doesn’t think that way,” Iris said defensively.

  “You think living in this world is easy?” Madam Gardenia scoffed.

  “Herald Frost knows what I’m talking about,” Luciana said. “Don’t you?”

  “I do,” Frost said while smirking at the woman. She intrigued him. She was absolutely nothing like Magnus. He believed himself to be a god while the woman in front of him was something else. There wasn’t any animosity or judgment in her words, only facts about the world as she saw it. “I wouldn’t call it easy though. I didn’t grow up afraid of being strung up by a noble or worried that giants might come down from the mountain and devour my family
. I think it’d be more accurate to say that we have a better understanding of the rules. Or maybe the rules in our own worlds were slightly more complex.”

  “The rules!” Luciana said cheerfully. “Exactly! You’re right, easy was the wrong word. I knew another herald would understand. It’s not that the world is easy but the rules by which this world is governed are simpler, maybe friendlier? For instance, I have mastered thousands of spells in a few years while it would have taken lifetimes in my world to master the same number.”

  “Your world had magic?” Frost asked.

  “Yours didn’t?” Luciana smirked. “I’ve heard about the spell that killed Magnus. The earth ruptured around you and you held the power of a storm in your hand. Then there was a surge of light followed by a deafening boom before Magnus fell. I assumed it was magic you brought from your world.”

  “In a way it is,” Frost said. “The same result was achieved using different methods.”

  “I understand completely!” Luciana said cheerfully. “I’ve also been able to adapt knowledge from my own world for this one. It’s very easy considering how abundant magic is here. In my world you needed to beg powerful beings to form an agreement with you and there were always sacrifices and payments involved.”

  “Sort of like…” Frost stopped himself before saying the word warlock and looked to pivot. “The slave contracts that are all over Nir.”

  “Exactly,” Luciana said. “I designed them as well as the curses used to force compliance. Chains were ineffective and typically harmed the slaves. The contracts work much better. Also, with the contracts I’ve been able to adapt slavery to something a little less barbaric. Slaves can earn their freedom by completing the hours on the contract or buying their way out. It’s a much better system.”

  Curses, contracts, and powerful beings that she formed agreements with to attain power along with viewing pretty much everybody as lesser beings. Frost was convinced that Luciana was a warlock and he figured that could also explain her ability to resurrect. Something like a soul stone was likely stored in a vessel somewhere which allowed her to return once she was killed, much like a lich’s phylactery. But that didn’t explain how she returned as an identical person with her levels and power intact. He wondered if she had some sort of room full of clones somewhere just ready to go.