White Devil

by Janina Franck

  She smiled warmly.

  You are as cheeky as ever. You have not changed.

  “I suppose not,” Colm chuckled. “You know you wouldn’t have it any other way though.”

  You are correct. Please do never change.

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Change? Death, my time to go has come now, hasn’t it? I died to save Mildred.”

  Death smiled.

  Many have meddled with your world in recent days. I believe, just this once, I can meddle too, old friend.

  The city of Tsoaluo was big. Enormous, actually. The sheer number of buildings was intimidating – taverns, shops, family homes, even apartment blocks, edifices wherever Lilith turned her eyes. However, there was one building that stood taller, reaching out from the rest of the flat city toward the sky like a claw. It was a castle, crafted from smooth, reddish-brown stone, with a wide base and three towers that stretched high into the sky, giving the impression of a talon ready to snatch its prey from the clouds.

  Wisps of smoke flowing from the millions of chimneys combined to engulf the entire body of the city. Lilith was fascinated by the immense volume of people living in such a place. She couldn’t even imagine it.

  Around the perimeter of the city, what used to be agricultural fields crowded each other, but as the little group drew closer, it became obvious that this year there would not be any harvest. Almost all had been destroyed by fire or battle. On the northern side there appeared to be some sort of barracks, Amethyst explained to Lilith.

  They had taken the short flight to some woods just outside the city early in the morning to not make draw attention to themselves when they entered. In order not to attract too much attention, Ayalon was to wait there until he received word from Amethyst or Zero. Then, as they had the entire day, they had gone into the city.

  There were guards at the city gate, closely watching everyone who entered or exited. Occasionally, people were taken aside and questioned in the guard tower, but their group had passed without problems. She’d been shocked by what she’d seen next.

  City guards marched through the streets while children hid behind their parents’ legs. Their expressions showed fear and uncertainty. Strangers were eyed suspiciously.

  The streets were dirty, and again and again the little group passed whole neighborhoods that had burnt to the ground or been abandoned. Once, Lilith saw a group of city guards harass a lonely beggar and take him away somewhere. She wanted to interfere, to say something, step in the way so they would leave that poor person alone, but Selene grabbed her arm and silently shook her head. The other girl’s expression was grim. Lilith got the feeling that it wasn’t the first time Selene had seen places like this.

  Lilith disliked the city more with every step. She trotted after her companions, tears filling her eyes. Suddenly, she felt Selene’s hand on her arm, and she looked up. Selene was pointing toward a group of children, around Milly’s age and younger. They were playing between houses and on the street. They cared for nothing other than their game at that moment, and their smiles and laughter told a different story to their torn and dirty clothes.

  Lilith was glad to see this ray of happiness. She had almost given up on this place, but even in a city so horrible, dirty, poor, and frightened, a child’s smile was not worth less. If anything, it lit up its surroundings a lot more than in an already happy place.

  She supposed that all this suffering and destruction must have been caused by the riots Colm had told her about. They seemed to have come to an end recently, but things were not yet fully settled. As they kept walking, looking for an inn which Griffin, Ference, and the Klabautermann might be staying in, Lilith heard whispers of people mentioning Lady Xelma or the recent appearances of the Khenoris Clan in the city, advertising to recruit more members. Based on the things she heard, she guessed that it was Xelma who had brought the city back under control and made the fighting stop. Seemingly, they had made the mage their current head of state, because she had been the royal adviser and was a powerful magic-user. Out of all candidates, she was the only one uninvolved in the petty disputes of who was, or was not, still considered a distant member of the royal bloodline. As a result, she had become an immediate favorite to the people. In other words, Lady Phyenor Xelma had been the only candidate that all sides had agreed on.

  As they passed the reddish castle, Lilith made a decision.

  “I will go to her now. Amethyst will help me find you later on, alright?” she said.

  Selene shook her head vehemently.

  “You’re not going in there by yourself. You may be immune to her magic, but if she sets guards on you, you don’t stand a chance. By Rum, they’d tear you apart! Be patient. They’re likely not going to let you see her anyway. We need the status report from the others. They know far more than we do, so you’re staying with us for now.”

  Lilith didn’t want to admit it to herself, but Selene had a point. She still would have liked to get her encounter with Xelma out of the way now, so they could continue their journey as swiftly as possible. She wanted to return home.

  As things were, she kept following her companions quietly, trying to get a mental image of the city and the castle in particular.

  Eventually, they happened to see a blue figure in a side street. Maco saw it first. The troll took Selene’s arm and pointed at the alley.

  “Kla…vautermann” he said.

  Selene nodded and shouted his name. The Klabautermann stopped mid-step and turned to face them.

  “Hello Captain.”

  *****

  The Klabautermann led them to an inn that was wedged between an arms shop and a blacksmith, both of which had evidently done very good business in recent times. Their facades were clean, their signs fancy and new – it didn’t take much guessing. In the inn named The Sky’s Call, Griffin was sitting at the bar, leaning over some pieces of paper. The rest of the room was empty, aside from two drunk soldiers and three equally drunk women in civilian dress.

  The interior was almost entirely made of wood, and even though some of the chairs gave the impression they might collapse under the weight of a person of Maco’s size, it was neat and orderly.

  A plaque on the wall summarized the history of the inn. Lilith only glanced at it, but that alone told her that the place was quite old and must have passed down through several generations.

  The barkeeper was polishing glasses, just like every barkeeper in bars across the world with nothing else to do. His face lit up when he saw more guests entering. His excited shuffling made Griffin look up for a moment as well, and upon recognition of his captain, he stood up in surprise.

  “Selene?” Griffin asked. “What are you doing-”

  One move of her hand sufficed to shut him up.

  “We’re not here for long. We have a task to complete, and quickly. We need to know what you know about this place, and then Colm needs you guys back in the Highlands. Where are your cat, Ference, and that other guy?”

  Selene didn’t waste any time. Lilith had noticed before that she got to the point quickly, no matter the occasion. Lilith thought it an admirable quality.

  Griffin exchanged a quick look with the barkeeper, before lowering his voice so the women in the bar couldn’t hear him.

  “They went to search the perimeter of the castle for unguarded entrances. For the papers to become an official mercenary group, we need the signature of the head of state and at the moment nobody is being let through to her by the guards. So, we figured we’d find a different way in.”

  He shrugged.

  “The head of state? You’d think she’d delegate better,” Selene scoffed.

  Griffin glanced at his documents nervously.

  “Well, apparently there used to be bureaucrats dealing with this stuff, but a lot of them ran off during the riots, so everything ends up going through her right now.”

  Selene nodded with a sigh.

  “Fine.”
r />   Shrill laughter reached them from the group of women at the other end of the bar.

  “There is a private room where you can discuss things further if you’re interested,” the barkeeper offered quietly to Griffin. The young man smiled brightly at him.

  “That would be great. Thank you, Sergei.”

  They followed him to a back room, which, he declared proudly, was as soundproof as it got, and if anyone needed anything, just ask him and he’d be happy to provide.

  Once the barkeeper had left, Selene asked Griffin to explain what they had been up to so far.

  It wasn’t much. They had found the inn, made friends with the innkeeper Sergei, who was raising two children by himself, found the forms, and were now looking for a way to get them signed.

  Apparently, the riots had already been under control when they got here. Lady Xelma had united the people once again and risen to be ruler of the nation. Not by force, but by the agreement that she was a better option for everyone than anybody else, especially since she was a powerful mage and could obviously fend off any enemies with that power.

  Selene took in all that information and then updated Griffin on the situation in the Highlands.

  “As soon as we’ve talked to that woman, you are going back to the Highlands. They need you up there. Don’t bother with the signature, that’s of lesser importance right now. Understood?”

  He nodded.

  The rest of the day, they went over maps and plans which were refined with new intelligence once James, Ference and Aestiva returned. By dinnertime they had figured out a plan to be set in motion that night. James had explained that at night there were the fewest guards in and around the castle, so it was probably the best time to infiltrate. After supper he took Lilith to the side.

  “Thank you… for saving my sister…” he mumbled, not daring to look her in the eye. “She… she talked a lot about you and I think she’s right with the things she says.”

  Lilith smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “You are a good brother. Milly loves you dearly,” she said earnestly. James looked up in surprise and gratefulness. Lilith could tell that he had needed to hear those words.

  “You cannot always be with the people you love to keep them safe,” she continued, thinking back to Colm. “But that does not make you a bad person. Milly knows that you would do anything in your power to protect her. And that is what matters.”

  James nodded quietly at her gentle words.

  “Thank you.”

  *****

  Shadows crept through the dark, unlit streets of Tsoaluo, toward the castle. Another large patch of darkness circled above the city, waiting. The shadows stopped and waited at the castle wall for a sign of some sorts. The shadow in the sky merged with one of the three towers and suddenly, the shadows in the street were gone.

  Inside the castle, Lilith found herself in a kitchen. They had entered through the hidden servant’s entrance and, according to James, now only needed to find the fanciest-looking door, behind which Xelma likely kept her offices. Word on the street was that the mage never slept.

  Selene, Griffin, Maco, Aestiva and Amethyst looked through the room. Selene had decided that the others should stay back, in case they needed back-up, or something went wrong. Lilith also suspected that a smaller group was better than a larger one, and the animals could act as a distraction if necessary.

  The kitchen was clean and tidy, the open fireplace was ready to be lit, and everything seemed to be in place. Upon a sign from Selene, the group sneaked through the door to some winding stairs. They ended up in the middle of a long corridor, the floor covered by carpet, the uneven stone walls plastered with portraits of royalty. Every hundred meters or so, a Silphan glow-orb was inset into the hallway’s walls.

  They quickly formed two groups of Selene’s choosing. She, Lilith and Amethyst went one direction down the corridor, while the remaining three went the other way.

  Death followed the steps of the troll, the cat and the young man closely. There might be work to be done. She watched as they tried to sneak inconspicuously through the halls, carefully opening the creaking and squeaking doors one after the other. Death was surprised that no one had come to investigate the noise yet.

  “What’f wrong?” the troll whispered to the young man who had been repeatedly turning around and searching the shadows behind him – the shadows Death was a part of.

  “I don’t know,” he whispered back. “I can’t shake off the feeling that something is watching us.”

  Even in his whisper, Death could hear the suppressed fear in his voice. The cat glanced at Death and Death knew that she had seen her. Creatures like her always did.

  Death put a finger to her lips and received the feeling of confirmation in return, as the cat blinked slowly.

  It wasn’t long before their peace was interrupted. It was the young man who gingerly opened the door to the quarters of the resident soldiers, currently occupied with playing cards and drinking, what soldiers everywhere do when they are left alone without supervision or a terrible fight approaching.

  He turned pale with the realization as all heads turned to him, and conversations died mid-sentence. Only one of the drunken women near the door was still babbling and chuckling as she continued the story she had been telling, oblivious to the general tension in the room.

  The young man mumbled quietly, “Sorry, wrong door,” and closed it slowly, almost gently, before turning to his friends and without another word, they ran. Behind them the door broke down with a dozen of the soldiers trying to get through it at the same time.

  Death watched with interest how the soldiers stumbled over each other in their pursuit of the pirates. Considering how little coordination their movements had due to their intoxication, they were still surprisingly quick and somehow managed to diminish the distance between them and the intruders quickly.

  The soldiers caught the group at the end of the hallway as they were wrestling with a locked door. There were windows high up on the walls, but they would not even be able to reach them if the troll and young man stood on each other’s shoulders. Realizing this, they turned around and got ready to fight. Death got ready as well. What would happen next could go many ways, it was not yet written in Silphan and she might very well have work to do.

  But before the two groups clashed, the windows broke and a shadow, gleaming green in the Silphan light, swooped in, knocking out several soldiers all at once, while the others, startled and terrified in their drunken state, fell over one another in the attempt to get away and knocked themselves and each other out. The young man and troll took care of the last few by hitting them over the head. The emerald dragon took his friends on his back and carried them out into the night.

  Death was left behind, somewhat surprised and impressed that she did not have any work in this place tonight. Instead, there was someone awaiting her in the vast deserts of Velsalia.

  She came to the poor creature, frozen and dehydrated and said, I have come to take your pain away.

  Lilith was nervous. She followed Selene carefully, constantly checking their surroundings. She was breaking rules, wasn’t she? But… it had to be done. Someone needed to talk to that out-of-control woman, and Colm had given that task to Lilith. So she kept walking, determined, yet nervous. She still wasn’t sure what to say to Xelma when she finally got to her.

  The corridor led around a corner into another one, from which several more branched off. All of them looked roughly the same. Lilith noticed how Selene’s jaw line slowly hardened in the Silphan light. She was getting frustrated. There were only a few doors and those all lead to dead ends: storage rooms and large halls. Eventually, Selene stopped, seemingly trying to think. Lilith used the time to look around. The Silphan spheres in the walls had an iridescent color and the liquid, swirling around inside, threw wavy shadows on the walls. She reflected on the possibility of the existence of a secret passage. Milly had lent her a b
ook in which that happened; the protagonist had been in a castle, looking for an important gem that had been stolen, and located it in a hidden room which he had only found through discovering a secret mechanism by accident.

  Lilith carefully ran her hand over the surface of the wall. Nothing. That was a pity.

  But then she felt a draft. It was light, almost like the way it felt when the sun hit her skin after being in the shadow of a tree. A touch, so gentle it might not even be there. But Lilith felt it.

  She closed her eyes and followed the breeze to its origin: a door, hidden in one of the many almost empty utility rooms, which opened to reveal another spiral staircase. Selene and Amethyst had followed her and were waited for her next move. Lilith wondered if there was some rule about castles only using spiral staircases before she decisively ascended the steps.

  The stairs ended on another floor. A dozen doors waited to be opened before Lilith, Selene and Amethyst. No more hallways, only doors. They all looked the same. Nothing about them distinguished them from one another. They all had the same pointed arch-shape with iron belts for extra support. There were no ornaments on the wood, but the draft came from the fourth door to the left.

  Lilith took a deep breath, glanced back at Selene, who waited, blank-faced and with crossed arms a few steps behind her alongside Amethyst, and opened the door.

  It was a large room. A windowfront exposed a breathtaking view over the entire city, illuminated only by the light of the moons and the occasional Silphan lamp here and there. Just in front of the window was a desk, stacked with papers, facing the door. Behind it sat Lady Phyenor Xelma, calmly writing. She looked up, annoyance in her glance, and with a quick flip of her hand made the door swing shut behind Lilith, before Selene could enter.

  Lady Xelma leaned back in her chair, frowning.

  “You’re that girl,” she stated. She didn’t ask how Lilith had gotten in. Xelma’s expression softened slightly when Lilith nodded. “So how is my dear Colm? Has he sent you to bring me something?” the woman continued eagerly, growing visibly more excited at the notion of her old friend thinking of her.