by J. Stone
“Yes. I hear that. They send you after naga, yes? You return, so you have killed it, yes?”
Wynonna nodded. “I did.”
Magnus clasped his arms around both her shoulders and shook her. “We must celebrate! You must come to my home. Meet my wife and little ones. We cook you feast to celebrate your triumph!”
“Um,” Wynonna began, thinking about his offer. She was certainly hungry, and she could definitely use more hospitality than she’d received in the tower thus far. She finally shrugged her shoulders, finding no reason to say no, and told him, “Yeah, alright.”
He released his grip on her and clapped his hands together. “Most excellent news! We go now?”
“Oh, no,” she replied. “I’ve got to meet with the elders. Tell them about--”
Magnus held up his hand to stop her and nodded. “Say no more. I understand. Do what you must. We feast later.”
“Alright. Well, when I finish with them, where will you be?”
He smiled wide. “I must speak with librarian. Tell him tale of most recent hunt.”
“Okay. I’ll look for you there when I’m done with the elders.”
“Most excellent,” he said. “I look forward to hearing stories of your hunt as well.”
“Alright.” Wynonna waved her hand as she turned to continue up the stairs. “See you soon.”
***
Wynonna rapped her knuckles against the elders’ chamber door and waited. She had heard them talking within, so she knew they were in, and when she knocked, their conversation ceased. After a few moments, the door swung open, and Wynonna saw Bowater standing in the doorway, a mix of irritation, disappointment, and surprise working its way over his face.
“You’re still alive,” he muttered.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she told him, crossing her arms at her chest.
Bowater made a disgusted sound and swiveled around, returning to his seat and leaving her there. She took a deep breath, walked in, and closed the door behind her before walking up to the elders’ round table where the others waited.
Approaching them, Wynonna studied their faces. Bowater, of course, maintained his look of absolute disgust, Nicolae looked surprised by her return but nonetheless pleased, and Ambrose actually smirked a little. His face almost always remained still and difficult to read, and after she saw it, the smirk disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. She wasn’t certain what it meant, but her paranoia made her suspicious of him and his motives. She had already decided his guilt. All that remained was to prove it. Accomplishing that, she suspected, would be a tricky endeavor.
“So,” Nicolae began, diverting Wynonna’s attention over to him. “You’ve returned. Can we take that to mean you’ve dealt with this naga trouble?”
Wynonna reached into her pocket where she’d placed the naga fangs. Pulling them from her pocket, she gripped them in her fist. She held her hand out over the table and dropped the first two fangs.
“Excellent!” Nicolae told her. “I knew you would manage this challenge.”
Again, Wynonna took a moment to study each of their faces, especially Ambrose. She saw nothing on any of them that would hint at their guilt or involvement.
“Killing a naga is a very impressive feat,” Ambrose told her. “This will go a long way in determining the state of your confirmation.”
Wynonna didn't respond, instead opening her hand the rest of the way and letting the last two naga fangs drop to the table.
“What is this?” Bowater asked.
She didn’t answer immediately, taking yet another opportunity to examine the elders. They all looked surprised, or at least faked it well enough. She couldn’t read into whether any of them were angry. Whoever the cultist was, he had to have experience disguising his true emotions. To think that she could so easily catch him seemed nonsensical.
“There were two,” she finally told them.
Bowater shook his head. “That’s nonsense. We all know that nagas live alone.”
“There were two,” Wynonna simply repeated.
He scoffed and leaned back in his chair. “Clearly, this little girl thinks us fools. She thinks to trick us by bringing us fakes. Well, girl, you overreached. You should have stopped at two fangs.”
Nicolae stood up and walked the short distance to where Wynonna stood, picking up one of the fangs. Rolling it between his fingers and examining it closely, he eventually looked to the other two elders and said, “It looks genuine to me.”
“Let me see one,” Ambrose said.
Nicolae tossed the fang he held across the table and then picked up another, throwing it to Bowater. Both the other vespari elders examined them as well. Bowater’s reactions were full of grumpy groans and growls, while Ambrose briefly wore that smirk on his face once again.
“I agree,” Ambrose eventually told them. “This is a naga fang, and it looks recently pulled.”
Bowater tossed his fang into the middle of the table. “She must have bought them from someone. We all know Spencer collects such things for instance. Naga do not live in packs.”
“They looked like sisters,” Wynonna said. “Twins.”
He shook his head. “Nonsense!” Standing up and skidding his chair backward, he added, “Are we really going to put up with this? This girl is trying to trick us! I for one will not--”
“I’m not lying!” Wynonna shouted at him, walking over and only barely keeping herself from punching the buffoon square in the jaw.
Bowater saw it and prodded her further. “Do it, girl,” he told her. “Your master was a degenerate, and you’re no different.”
“Shut up, Albert,” Ambrose told him.
“Wynonna,” Nicolae said, pulling her back. “Calm down.”
Bowater sneered and sat back down in his chair, while Wynonna turned around with Nicolae and stepped away.
“There is one way to positively prove that she killed a naga,” Ambrose said, rolling the fang back and forth between his thumb and forefinger.
“Yes?” Nicolae asked.
Ambrose looked up at her. “You said you have the tattoos, correct?”
Wynonna nodded. “I do.”
“Then, you should have gained the energy from killing the nagas.”
Thinking about it, she wasn’t actually certain what that was. If Corrigan had mentioned it in his journal, she didn’t remember reading about it. When she took out the twins, she didn't feel any different after either kill other than feeling their energy flow inside her.
Nicolae put his hands on his hips. “You want to bleed her?”
Ambrose frowned. “She will heal.”
“I don’t understand,” Wynonna said. “What does my blood have to do with anything?”
Bowater scowled at her. “Do you know nothing, girl? Nagas make your blood venomous.”
“If we cut you, we can see if your blood has this effect,” Nicolae added.
“Oh, okay,” Wynonna said, grabbing her knife and holding it to her palm.
“Wait,” Nicolae said. “We need a test subject.”
Both he and Ambrose looked at Bowater.
“What?” he asked, when he noticed.
“You’re the one who doubts her,” Ambrose said.
Bowater scowled. “I’m not letting this girl bleed on me.”
“Then concede your point. Admit that she killed the nagas.”
A pained expression covered the elders face. “Fine.”
“Fine, what?”
“I concede.”
“You sure?” Wynonna asked with a self-satisfied smile. “It’s just a little blood.”
He glared up at her, saying nothing.
“That’s enough,” Ambrose said. “We believe that you have defeated the nagas. You have passed our second challenge. We must now discuss your confirmation.”
“Come,” Nicolae told her, turning and gesturing her toward the exit. “Allow us the day to confer, and we will speak more tomorrow.”
“Alright,” she r
eplied, walking with him to the door. Wynonna slid her knife back into her belt and continued to stare at her hand. “You know, having this in my blood seems kind of… dangerous.”
“Don’t worry,” Nicolae said, patting her on the shoulder. “The naga’s effect fades faster than most.” He paused, adding, “Just try not to bleed on anyone you care about in the meantime.”
She smiled and nodded. “Fair enough.”
“We will see you tomorrow,” he told her, as he opened the door for her.
“Alright, Nicolae. Thanks.”
As she passed through the doorway, the elder sniffed at the air and formed something of a grimace on his face. “That’s an interesting smell you’ve acquired.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, I need to wash my clothes. The sewers really caked itself on me.”
“I’m sure,” he replied with a pleasant little smile. “Until tomorrow.”
With that, Wynonna left the elders’ chamber and set toward the stairs. Despite how contentious Bowater had been about the whole affair, she felt good about her chances. As she approached the stairs and started down them, she couldn’t help but wear a big smile, plastered across her face.
***
With the elders informed of the nagas’ death and feeling no closer to proving Ambrose or anyone else of involvement as a cultist in the Dawning of Eternal Night, Wynonna descended the tower, in search of Magnus. The hulking man was rather peculiar in comparison to the others she’d met in Alexandria, but he had been, by far, the most hospitable of the vespari. The idea of having a meal with his family actually excited Wynonna quite a bit.
Ever since returning home to find her family murdered, she hadn’t really sat down and ate a meal at a family setting. The mess hall was a poor imitation, and Corrigan hadn’t been much for meals, let alone conversation. So, she went down to find Magnus, and she figured if he was in the library, she could see if she could learn anything else from Spencer while she was there.
Arriving on the first floor of the tower, Wynonna turned and pushed open the door of the library. She found Magnus following Spencer around the library, as the librarian pushed a cart of books and restored them one at a time to their shelves. As he did, the large vespari told a story, which Spencer seemed to only halfway be listening to.
“I had hands wrapped around monster’s throat…” Magnus mimed the action. “Monster very strong, but I have right where I want it. You know what I do next?”
“No,” the librarian replied with a little sigh, picking up a book from his cart and sliding it back onto the shelf.
“I wrench head clean off--”
“Wynonna!” Spencer said, looking up from his cart and seeing her enter. “It’s so good to see you.”
“Ah, yes,” Magnus added with a little nod. “She had story for elders. I shall finish mine later.”
The librarian looked from Magnus to Wynonna. “You killed the naga?” he asked of her.
She nodded and approached the pair. “I did.”
“Most impressive!” Magnus said, pointing a finger at her. “Tales will be told of this one. I see it now.”
“Then, you’ve passed your final challenge,” Spencer replied. “Will they confirm you?”
Wynonna shrugged. “They’ll let me know tomorrow.”
“Well, I can’t see why they wouldn’t. You took out an oathbreaker and killed a naga.”
“Two,” she corrected, leaning against a bookshelf.
“Two what?”
“Two naga. There were two of them.”
“What?” Magnus asked. “You did not tell me there were two. This is most impressive indeed!”
“Two?” Spencer inquired. “But nagas typically nest alone.”
“I think they were twin sisters,” she explained.
“Twins?” he asked, looking at the floor and scratching the back of his head. “Interesting.”
“That’s not all either. Found something else you might want to know about.”
He looked up at her. “What’s that?”
“Banes.”
“Banes?” Spencer repeated.
Wynonna just nodded with a little smile on her face.
“That’s quite the day you had.”
“I don’t understand,” Magnus said, looking back and forth between the two of them. “What is this bane you speak of?”
Spencer turned to him. “They don’t have banes in Glazino?”
“If so, not by that name. Describe this bane.”
“They’re created by occultists,” the librarian explained.
Magnus shook his head, not understanding.
“I think your people call them mystics?”
“Ah, yes. I know of which you speak now. But how do they create these banes?”
“It’s a fairly ancient ritual,” Spencer told him. “As far as we know, no one alive still knows how to create them. What we do know, however, is that a living person has ritual parchment wrapped over their entire body. The energy from the spell kills them, and the person eventually resurrects as a bane.”
“Hm. No, Glazino does not have such things.”
Spencer then turned to Wynonna. “It’s surprising that you found such a creature. Where was it?”
“Down in the sewers,” she said. “One of the nagas tried to escape. I followed it and wound up in an ancient section of tunnels. Ever hear the name Keqet before? Or of a ‘golden queen?’”
The librarian shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing in these tomes about it.” He smiled. “I’m going to have to look into this. So, what happened to this bane?”
“Well, there were two, in fact. One’s name was Queen Keqet. The other was her bodyguard and apparent lover, who turned out to be a lycanthrope before becoming a bane and then a vargulf afterward.”
“Interesting,” Spencer said, leaning in as she told him her tale.
“Yeah, not the word I would use. Anyway, I didn’t know how to kill it, and I was low on not soaking wet ammunition, so all I could do was seal it back up where I found it.”
“Hm,” the librarian muttered, rubbing at his chin. “After you are confirmed and I learn more about this golden queen, you should head back down there to finish them off.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she replied. “One thing at a time. For now,” she began, patting the big vespari on the shoulder and grinning, “Magnus here is going to make me a feast.”
“Yes,” Magnus said, mirroring her smile. “Big feast. To welcome Wynonna to vespari order. Would you like to come too?”
Spencer shook his head. “Oh. No. Thank you, but I have a lot of work to do. I’ve got to learn more about this Keqet character.”
“Your loss,” Magnus told him.
“Yes, well… Wynonna, I shall see you tomorrow, I hope.”
She nodded, and the two vespari started toward the door, when Wynonna remembered the sketch. She needed to know what he knew, and see if he would reveal anything. Rohan thought he could be trusted, but she wasn’t as quick to believe him. All that remained was how to approach the subject.
“Hey,” she began, turning around and feeling a sense of slyness wash over her. “One other thing. You still have that sketch you drew?”
Spencer nodded. “Should be around here somewhere. Why?”
“I just didn’t get a good look at it. Thought I would see how good a job you did.”
“Mm. Well, I can find it if you really want.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see it.”
“Alright. I’ll find it and show it you when you return.”
Wynonna folded her arms at her chest. “No. Now.”
“Why does this matter so much?” Magnus asked.
She cut her eyes over to him and then to the librarian. “It just does.”
Spencer sighed. “Very well. It should be with the rest of the vespari sketches I’ve made throughout the years.”
The librarian walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a drawer where he began to rifle through papers.
Wynonna studied him closely to see if he gave anything away. To her eye, he did seem to genuinely search for it, but she didn’t know how devoted to the ruse he would be. Though she worried that her paranoia was getting the better of her, that didn’t mean she would let this go so easily.
“Hm. I don’t see it in here,” he finally said.
“Then, where is it?” Wynonna asked.
“I don’t know,” he told her, shaking his head and continuing to rifle through the papers. “It should be here.”
“But, it’s not?”
“No, it seems to have disappeared.”
“Who has access to your sketches? Maybe someone took it.”
Spencer turned around and shrugged. “I can’t imagine anyone would want to take it, but I don’t lock the door. The knowledge stored within these walls is available to any who would seek it.”
“Mm,” she muttered. “So anyone could have taken it?”
“I suppose.”
“Why would anyone steal your picture?” Magnus asked.
Wynonna shrugged. “Just a hunch. Come on,” she said to the large vespari. “Let’s just go see about that feast, huh?”
“Very good!” he replied. “You will like family. Very friendly.”
“I’ll keep looking for the sketch,” Spencer called after her, as Wynonna turned toward the exit with Magnus.
“Don’t bother,” she told him. “It’s gone.”
***
“You’re going to love family,” Magnus told her, slapping her on the back as they approached his house.
After stumbling forward and catching herself, Wynonna asked, “How many kids you got?”
“Three. Two daughters. One son.” Raising his hand up and tapping his first finger, he said, “Roza is oldest.” Next finger. “Then, my boy, Ilya.” The third finger. “Last, is Kristina. You have husband? Children?”
Wynonna laughed, trying to imagine such a situation. “Uh, no. No to both. Not the motherly type. Maybe I could swing being an aunt but not mother.”
“Do you have nieces and nephews?”
She stared at the ground, as they walked. “No. Guess I never will either.”
“What do you mean?”