by Eva Brandt
Upon taking in Cheimon’s presence, Lerna did a small bow, somehow managing to make it look effortless and graceful despite the fact that her eight heads should’ve gotten in each other’s way. “Ah, Queen Cheimon. Forgive me. I was a little distracted and did not notice your arrival. Of course I will help, if I can. Who is the person in question?”
“Jack Frost, the guardian of The Bridge of Frosted Leaves. You might be familiar with him.”
Lerna grimaced, an expression made somewhat terrifying considering the fact that she used all eight heads for it. “Jack? Oh dear... How unfortunate. I warned him something like this would happen sooner or later, but he did not listen.”
Cheimon narrowed her eyes at the hydra, and the temperature around us started to drop. It wasn’t a threat, not exactly, but it was a sign that Cheimon did not like the turn of this conversation. “What do you mean? What exactly did you warn him about?”
Lerna fidgeted, her tail swaying in agitation and several of her heads ducking behind the others. “Well, you see, Your Majesty, Jack... To tell you the truth, he didn’t much enjoy the job you gave him. Don’t misunderstand, please. He appreciated the trust you placed in him by granting him such an important task. But it wasn’t in his nature to be stationary. He found the whole thing very boring, so occasionally, he’d ask me to keep an eye on both our sides, and he’d leave.
“I allowed it, as there was no harm in him taking some time off, and I was perfectly capable of guarding the bridge on my own. He’d always bring the best pumpkin pies back too, so it worked. But as of late, I did notice him getting more and more restless, to the point that the frequency of his departures increased. I told him to be more careful, but he always has been very stubborn, and he refused to listen.”
Cheimon took a deep breath, and the chill began to subside. “I see. And when did you speak to him last?”
“Oh, he passed through here roughly... three days ago, I think. He mentioned he was going to a new satyr brothel that had opened in Hailton.”
“Satyr brothel,” Cheimon repeated, as if she was having trouble processing the concept. “He went to a satyr brothel... Three days ago.”
I was just as horrified. While I did not have a lot of information about what had been happening so far in this realm, I did know that three days ago, the flooding caused by our presence had still been an issue. What had possessed Jack Frost to abandon his post at such a delicate time?
Dear gods. To think I had considered him a threat to our relationship with Cheimon when she had mentioned their previous bond. What a laugh. Such a pathetic male wasn’t worthy to kiss her boots, or even be in her presence.
“You are certain of this?” Cheimon asked, her voice now thick with doubt. While I believed Lerna, I remembered the affectionate way Cheimon had spoken of the Jack Frost male at the palace and found that I could not fault her for her distrust.
“It is what he told me, yes.” Lerna paused, as if considering her next words. “I know it sounds bad, Your Majesty, and I realize it is not exactly my place to intervene in this issue, but if I may... I beg you to not punish him too severely. He might be a little reckless and foolish, but he is a good person.”
Lerna’s odd comment finally made Emmerich land by our side. His snout twisted into a sneer, and he glowered at the hydra. “Please. Any male who cannot be relied upon to fulfill a task a female has entrusted him with is useless.”
“It’s not completely his fault!” Lerna cried, through all of her mouths. “The job he was given didn’t fit his character.”
A surge of anger reared in my chest at her words. While I could somewhat understand what she was trying to say, her argument was still based on the idea that Cheimon had been the one to make a mistake. I refused to let that slide. “He still accepted the task, though,” I pointed out sharply. “If he had problems, he should’ve mentioned it to someone, perhaps even Her Majesty. I’m sure she could’ve reassigned him to a different position.”
“Things don’t work like that here, Kerryn. This isn’t Terra Dracones. You can’t just ask for a different job or do whatever you please.”
“And yet, he was doing whatever he pleased anyway, when he was abandoning his post,” Raijin replied without missing a beat.
The argument would’ve probably continued for a while longer had Cheimon not intervened. “None of that matters right now. It is apparent that no harm has come to Jack and we’ve all been worrying unnecessarily. That is good news.”
She flicked her fingers and a small pouch manifested from... somewhere. She tossed it at Emmerich, and he easily caught it in his paw. “Raijin, Emmerich, Kerryn... I want you to go retrieve him from Hailton—or wherever else he may be—and bring him home. There’s money in the pouch for any expenses you might have. I’ll discuss the issue of his unauthorized departure with him face to face.
“In the meantime, Lerna, do not worry too much. I’m sure we’ll be able to arrange something that will take into account not just his faults, but also his overall loyalty to the realm and the rest of the services he has performed for me. He must have a reason for his behavior. I believe that.”
Personally, I didn’t think any reason would warrant disappointing our female in such a way, but if this was her choice, I could hardly argue with it. Lerna, at least, seemed relieved, the tension in her stance melting away at Cheimon’s promise. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I appreciate it.”
“I appreciate your cooperation as well. Please assist Raijin, Emmerich and Kerryn with whatever else they might need to get to Hailton. I’m afraid that since my presence here is no longer necessary, I must return to The Frozen Peaks.”
I almost offered to escort her, but I managed to control the impulse. I had a feeling that, no matter what she had told Lerna, Cheimon was still very unhappy with Jack’s actions. Her magic felt... restless, to the point that she reminded me a little of a wounded dragonet ready to lash out at anyone who approached her.
Despite her visible frustration, Cheimon still shot a smile our way. “I will wait for you at home, my dragons,” she said.
My mind just about broke at her words. She had claimed us as hers! She had identified her lair as ours. Sort of. We were making progress in leaps and bounds with our courtship of our female.
In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to throw all caution to the wind, forget all about stupid missions and other males, shift into my humanoid form and kiss her. Unfortunately, it was not to be. That beautiful sentence served as her goodbye, and she was already flying off, the strong, cold wind carrying her away from us.
Next to me, Raijin let out a small, dreamy rumble. A small gust of flame escaped Emmerich’s nostrils. “I don’t suppose we could go after her now?” I asked.
I didn’t really expect a response, since I already knew what it would be and the question itself was superfluous. That made it all the more surprising when Lerna decided to smack me in the flank with her tail and say, “Obviously not. Idiot.”
I jolted and shot her a wounded look, wishing not for the first time that this form had frontal limbs that would allow me to rub the sting from my sore side. “Hey! What was that for?”
“That was to get you to stop staring like a teenage cyclops and focus. I’m assuming you all want to prove yourselves to your female by finding Jack.”
I didn’t ask how she had realized that, or why she didn’t find it surprising that we had decided to share Cheimon. Hydras had a way of knowing these things, some kind of natural instinct I didn’t actually understand, but was probably related to them being polycephalous. “Yes, that’s exactly what we had in mind.”
“Excellent. Well, then. Here is what you need to do.”
Six
Enchanted
Cheimon
A satyr brothel. A satyr brothel.
As I flew back toward The Hoarfrost Tundra, the words swirled through my mind like the angry blizzard that held me aloft, threatening to chase away all rational thought.
“A satyr b
rothel,” I hissed under my breath, just because I could. “Really, Jack? What were you thinking?”
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand that men—like women—had needs. I wasn’t angry with him for pursuing a sexual liaison, and I could even see why he’d choose to seek it out in my sister’s homeland. He was one of the few inhabitants of Tou Cheimóna who could travel to other realms without experiencing discomfort, and I did not blame him for taking advantage of that or for embracing the... hospitality of Pandora’s people. Just the same, I felt betrayed by his actions.
How could he have simply abandoned his post without a word of notice, at a time when we had still been struggling with the flood? The question puzzled and angered me more than the riddles Tarasia’s sphinxes sometimes liked to throw at me.
Could the hydra have lied? That was a possibility, but not something I deemed very likely. While I wasn’t personally that familiar with her, Pandora had picked her as a guardian for the bridge for a reason, and when it came to the safety of Chronikos, I trusted my sister’s judgment. Between that and the fact that Lerna and Kerryn had been acquainted, I had no reason to believe the hydra would’ve provided me with faulty information.
Assuming she had been truthful, Lerna had nothing to worry about when it came to Jack’s well-being. I’d never actually hurt him. But on the other hand, I was a queen. To what extent could I afford to give him special treatment?
I didn’t know, but it was rash to make any judgments before I heard from him. He could have had a completely legitimate reason for his departure. Despite his eccentricity, Jack had never failed me before, not once, in all the years we had known one another.
For the moment, I had to prioritize Tou Cheimóna’s safety over my concern regarding my friend and my confusion on what I was going to do about him. Regardless of his reasoning, the fact remained that there was a real chance the bridge had been unwatched for far longer than I was comfortable with. I needed to make sure nothing had gone awry in Jack’s absence. Even if the hydra had been less than honest, my dragons would still find Jack and bring him home. My responsibility right now lay with my people.
Of course, as soon as I crossed the Topaz, I received the unpleasant reminder that I had another matter to deal with before I could focus on my plan. Ded Moroz was still waiting next to the bridge, clearly reluctant to leave this area before he received actual news about his son.
I landed next to him, and the blizzard that still swirled around me had some of the barbegazi cowering away in alarm. His breath caught, but I knew better than to believe it was because he feared me. My glum demeanor alone more than sufficed to make it clear that something had gone wrong in my mission to find his son.
“Your Majesty, do you have any news?” he asked, his voice steady, but his eyes glittering with incipient desperation.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself that, technically speaking, the information Lerna had given me put us in a far better situation than we’d been in before.
“We’ve managed to track down Jack’s tentative location. I’ve sent my dragons there to find him. At this time, we have every reason to believe that he is unharmed, and that his disappearance is related to a voluntary departure rather than an outside factor as I originally assumed.”
“A voluntary departure?” Ded Moroz repeated in disbelief. “He left? Why?”
It would have perhaps been kinder to hide the whole story from him, but he would find out the truth eventually, and shying away from it to keep him from hurt feelings would help no one. “Because his libido demanded it, apparently,” I replied.
He gaped at me, rendered mute by my response. Knowing he would unavoidably pepper me with questions when he snapped out of his shock, I provided the answers without waiting for him to actually ask.
“Recent information indicates that he may have left a few days ago, and his tentative destination was a satyr brothel in Hailton. My sister’s hydra saw him leave and she was most cooperative.”
“A satyr brothel?” Ded Moroz asked, eerily mimicking my own earlier thoughts and behavior. “Surely not...”
“Let’s face it, he always did have interesting tastes when it came to bed partners. It’s more the timing of his departure that bothers me than his sexual preferences.”
Ded Moroz’s shoulders slumped, the creases on his aged face deepening with disappointment and sorrow. “I have no idea what I did wrong when I raised that boy.”
If he was looking for a shoulder to cry on, I was the least appropriate option. Jack’s tendency to create mischief was at least in part caused by his upbringing, because during his childhood years, his father had always had other priorities. That was sort of why we’d become friends to begin with.
Still, this time around, the situation did not involve something as simple as silly pranks, and I could not leave Ded Moroz hanging. Besides, I still believed it was premature to make any judgments or decisions about Jack. Lerna might have seemed truthful, but I’d always thought that Jack was completely devoted to the well-being of the realm, and I hadn’t been proven wrong yet. Until I actually knew what had happened, there was no reason for Ded Moroz to abandon all hope regarding his son. “He might still have a justification for his actions. I doubt the hydra would’ve lied to me, but I still want to talk the issue over with him and see what he has to say.
“Who knows? Maybe there was a problem at the bridge which he felt he needed to tell someone about. We will find out, as soon as my dragons bring him back.”
Such an explanation seemed unlikely, since had something of concern occurred, his responsibility would’ve been to report to me, not some random person in Hailton, or even to my sister. However, until I found out the truth, I’d go with that and give him the benefit of the doubt.
Ded Moroz nodded, some of the lines of strain on his face fading at my comforting words. “Yes, of course. You’re right, Your Majesty. We have to have faith in him. Are you sure the dragons will be able to track him down, though? Should we not try another method?”
“They are perfectly capable of handling it,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at him. I understood his logic, but I didn’t appreciate him questioning my decision in public. “Right now, we have to focus on securing the river once again. If the hydra is to be believed, the area may have been unwatched for some time, and that is never a good idea.”
I’d have to pick a new guardian for the bridge, at least until I spoke with Jack and found out if Lerna’s assessment had been correct. I also wanted to check up on the garrisons along the coast. Courtesy of my recent mission to find Jack, I felt confident that we had no real intruders in Tou Cheimóna. Still, this whole debacle made it obvious that I had to tighten security measures.
For the moment, I turned my attention to checking the state of the bridge. My lieutenants had told me it had not been seriously damaged by the flood, but I still needed to verify the information, just in case they had missed a detail, and Jack’s absence had affected it in some other way. I doubted it, as the bridge was tied to the realm itself, not to Jack, but at this point, it was better to be safe than sorry.
I did indeed find some minute cracks in the ice, but nothing of concern. I identified them as signs that December had worked on the bridge before my arrival, and the ice was still adjusting to his magic. The river bank was in a similar state. Here, the flooding hadn’t affected the ground as badly as around the area where I’d found my dragons, and December had done a good job in handling what problems had existed.
Satisfied with the state of the structure, I turned toward my first lieutenant. “Excellent work, December. You have pleased me. Now, I want you to head west and check up with the garrison in Akhlut Beach. Make sure everything is in order and report to me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Second on my list was the lone yeti still present. “Abominable, your brother is still at the dam, yes?”
The yeti grunted, and while nobody else could understand the meaning behind his response, I did. “Yes,
Queen Cheimon. He is indeed there. Do you need me to join him?”
“That won’t be necessary, no,” I said. “I want you to stay here, for now, and keep an eye on the bridge. I don’t think there will be any incidents, but you can expect my dragons to come through soon, bringing Jack along.”
Having Abby as a guardian for The Bridge of Frosted Leaves was not ideal. As his name illustrated, he was abominable at anything that didn’t involve physical strength and terrifying creatures smaller than him. Still, he was loyal, and he could be counted on to sit his ass here and not run off on his own because some female yeti was in heat or something.
“Ded Moroz, I need you to look into the state of The Bridge of Melting Snowflakes. The Alpha of the amarok pack I have stationed there has reported nothing of significance as of late, but it is best to make sure something hasn’t happened to them as well.”
As far as I knew, that garrison had never encountered any real issues, but occasionally, some more adventurous nymphs did attempt to... commune with the wolf guardians of the bridge in ways that went beyond the spiritual. Most of the time, the wolves knew better than to fall prey to their charms, but “most of the time” was not “always.” I didn’t really think nymphs were the threat we had to worry about, but people often tended to underestimate them due to their demeanor. I refused to make that mistake, since I myself was a testament of how a nymph could turn out if given the chance.
“And what about you, Your Majesty?” Ded Moroz asked. “Where will you go?”
“Me? I have a wendigo to visit.”
* * *
Cheimon
“So you’ve noticed no unusual activity along the coast?”
Oki rumbled and shook his massive, skeletal head. The motion made the ribbons dangling around his antlers flutter like tiny red flags. “None whatsoever. The waters are quiet. If any undead have attempted to cross the Great Ocean, they haven’t come this way.”