“Rose? Are you done, or would you like a little more time?” Coral asked, and Rose looked over at the succubus and smiled as she stood up.
Coral was thinner than Tina, with slightly more angular features, but her soft pastel blue hair and lips helped soften her appearance, and her skin was darker than the others, causing an interesting contrast. Unlike Anna and Tina, Coral wore close-fitting, simple clothing, and she wore a holy symbol of Estalia instead of bearing a tattoo.
“I think I’m done for now,” Rose replied, smiling as she extended her wings, beating them gently to remove some of the water as she walked toward the steps leading out of the pool. “While I enjoy swimming, if I’m to leave for the capital soon, I’d like to enjoy the company of each of you while I have it.”
“It eases my heart to hear that. You’ve been a lovely guest, Rose, and it’s been wonderful seeing you truly bloom,” Coral replied with a warm smile, picking up a large towel and extending it for Rose. “I do hope that Her Majesty will have news of your beloved when you reach the capital.”
“We shall see. Whatever is fated to be, will be,” Rose said, her smile fading slightly, then it brightened as she stepped into the towel and Coral began drying her off. “Still, she said she’ll search for Isalla, so I’m sure she will. For now… I’ll do as she asked and try to improve myself.”
“As you say,” Coral said, leaning in to steal a quick kiss, her tail almost flirtatiously stroking Rose’s side. “Now, let’s get you dry, hm?”
Rose laughed and nodded, taking part of the towel to get to work. She was going to miss the spire when she left, as well as everyone in it, but she also looked forward to seeing just what Queen Estalia’s palace was like.
Chances were she was going to be living there in the queen’s service, after all. It would be so much more fulfilling than her life had been before being captured, truthfully.
Chapter 35
Haral looked at the report and frowned, tapping her desk slowly. When she’d first arranged to deal with Isalla, things had gone so well that she could hardly believe it. The complication of First Sword Roselynn’s involvement had been unpleasant, but Haral had managed to intercept the woman’s inquiries in time and to arrange for her to be dealt with as well. She hadn’t been pleased about the angel’s fate, but Haral had believed that they could arrange for Roselynn to be killed at a later time.
Then, in a bit of paranoia, Haral had performed a divination to determine whether or not Isalla had truly perished. The results had made her exceedingly unhappy since they indicated that not only was Isalla alive, but she was also in a relatively secure place near where Roselynn had been taken. She’d taken measures to try to have the woman killed, but thus far they hadn’t been successful.
“I shouldn’t have had her dropped so far from our territory,” Haral murmured, folding her arms and frowning. “It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it makes things… difficult.”
She’d at least received word of where Isalla had been spotted from the assassin’s guild in Hragon, which gave Haral some options. In fact, it gave her a couple of options that were… possibly dangerous, but the last thing she wanted was for Isalla to find someone who’d listen to her wild tales about Haral and her associates. Her superiors would be most displeased if that happened.
Making a decision, Haral stood and moved to the door, opening it to look into the next room. Sorm looked up from his equipment, raising an eyebrow in surprise. A moment later he asked, the brown-haired angel’s voice a gentle baritone, “Is there something you need, Haral? You look upset.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so. It seems that Isalla is as hardy as a cockroach, even after being stripped of her wings and dropped in the hells. She’s even managed to kill one of the assassins, which doubtlessly put her on her guard. We need to deal with her, permanently,” Haral said, leaning against the door frame.
“That will be difficult,” Sorm replied, frowning as he rubbed his chin. “It isn’t easy to get into the hells, most of the time, and getting a group that could get in and deal with her… it would be hard to avoid notice.”
“That’s why I’m thinking we go for two birds with a single stone. Possibly three. We know where Roselynn is, and we were planning to eliminate her to begin with,” Haral said, her gaze hardening slightly. “Put together a group of our people who are willing to volunteer to rescue Roselynn. They can go to Firewatch and pull together information, then kill Isalla and Roselynn at the same time. It would be shocking if the demons managed to convert her, but considering what we know of Estalia, not unheard of. If they can retrieve Ember, so much the better. There are plenty of others in her family who could wield the sword, and I’m sure there’s one we could suborn easily enough.”
Sorm’s eyes lit up, though she also saw his caution as he set down his sword. He considered for a long moment before speaking. “That is possible, yes. I know of enough members of our cause who’d be willing, but there is a problem I see.”
“What’s that?” Haral asked, curious if it was the same problem she was thinking of.
“The demon queen,” Sorm said bluntly. “She’s not going to want to lose her prize, and she could destroy our chances of eliminating Roselynn.”
“Yes, that’s true. However, I heard something fascinating just the other day. It seems that one of Yrinna’s projects has finally borne fruit,” Haral said, smiling thinly, a sense of anticipation rising in her. “It’s expensive, but she has an arrow which should be able to pierce most magical defenses, and which will remove even a demon lord from the equation for the time being. I believe it’s designed to teleport the one shot into a mortal god’s defenses, in fact. It’ll take her a long time to make another batch, but I believe we can requisition one easily enough. Even better, it should do a good job of distracting everyone from our aims, if a demon lord breaks the unofficial truce by attacking a mortal god.”
Sorm blinked, then smiled. “Yes, that would change things, wouldn’t it? It would be a clever way to avoid needing to enchant an arrow to be able to kill a demon lord, too. That’s notoriously difficult. In any case, it would likely put her mantle out of reach as well. If we have that, I think the task is doable. They should even be able to get out relatively easily, if we can communicate with them to open the portal.”
“Precisely,” Haral said, her smile widening. “You’re willing to make the arrangements, then?”
“Of course,” Sorm agreed. “I’ll start on it this evening. Putting together a group should take no more than a day or two. However… what if someone who isn’t one of our own joins the group?”
Haral paused, then shrugged. “In that case, the hells are a dangerous place. Casualties are almost inevitable.”
“True enough,” Sorm said, chuckling darkly.
Haral smiled, then stepped back into her room and closed the door. She was happy that arrangements were being made. It wasn’t the perfect solution, but it’d do for now. In the meantime, she needed to make other arrangements that didn’t involve a single, annoyingly resilient angel.
Chapter 36
Isalla settled into the chair, feeling a little relieved that Kanae let her have the corner where no one could sneak up on her. Kanae took the chair to her left, settling down at the table without batting an eyelash. That was more than Isalla could do, even if she wasn’t staring the way she would’ve a few months prior. Or even a few weeks, for that matter.
The town they’d reached wasn’t large, and Kanae hadn’t mentioned what its name was. It was larger than Kanae’s hometown, but that didn’t take a lot of work to manage. More impressive was how much finer the buildings were, along with the stone wall around the community.
Even more impressive was the variety of demons that were staying in the oversized inn. It was startling to see everything from a large horned demon nearly ten feet tall next to smaller demons like succubi, bone demons, and one of the fireborn, which were vaguely humanoid, but with more bone ridges and glowing orange veins. Most of
them were startlingly well-dressed from Isalla’s perspective, and while she might think that cotton and linen were common where she was from, she’d learned that such cloth was rare in the hells, and many of the other people in the room had clothing made of those materials. Considering that, it made Isalla a little nervous, since many of them were watching her and Kanae.
A shorter demon quickly approached their table, his insectile eyes slightly unnerving, though at least his four arms didn’t have any weapons, and he was clothed drably in comparison to everyone else in the room. He smiled as he stopped at their table, speaking in a slightly buzzing voice.
“Hello, ladies! How might I serve you? We have an excellent cook, and a rock drake was recently brought down in the area. We also have a few stews on hand, and…” The demon began, but his voice trailed off as Kanae raised a finger.
“Is any Revian scarlet available? Along with roast deathstalker?” Kanae asked, and when she did so, the server went still, as did at least one patron who was nearby. Isalla frowned, curious why they seemed so startled.
“Ah, I’m afraid not, my lady,” the server said in a slightly more formal tone, bowing his head slightly.
“Indeed? May I ask why not?” Kanae asked, her left index finger slowly tapping the table.
“I’m afraid that Master Nare chose to move on to new employment some two centuries past, and he was the only one here with the skill to properly prepare deathstalker, and the reserve of Revian scarlet he bottled has long since been depleted,” he explained apologetically. “If we could bring it out, I’d readily do so, but I’m afraid I can’t.”
“I see. I suppose I shouldn’t have expected him to still be working here after all this time, but I rather enjoyed his food. Ah, well.” Kanae sighed and waved dismissively, which seemed odd when compared to her usual attitude. “In that case, a bottle of deepwater wine, only lightly aged, two glasses, thinly sliced rock drake with a honey glaze, and the appropriate vegetables for the season.”
“Of course, my lady, right away!” the server replied, and quickly scurried off.
“Kanae?” Isalla murmured, slightly confused by the looks they were getting, as if people were reassessing them.
“I just showed knowledge and wealth, which marks us as wealthy and dangerous, rather than easy marks. It should deal with some of the problems we might have encountered, while creating others. It isn’t perfect, but better than nothing,” Kanae replied quietly, returning the looks they were receiving levelly. “You’re here looking for a friend named Orla, who went missing in Estalia. A blonde with striking green eyes, but who was rather plain.”
“I… oh, of course,” Isalla said, realization dawning on her after a few moments. She paused a moment, then shrugged. “You think she might be here?”
“It’s the best lead we have; the problem will be finding out if she’s here,” Kanae said, her voice just a hair louder now.
The room was filled with soft conversation, some people louder than others. The staff was well-garbed, and it was a much more comfortable inn than they’d stayed in during their trip thus far. Isalla had to wonder how much the trip had cost, and a moment later regretted wondering. More than that, she felt suddenly guilty about how much of a burden she’d been on Kanae.
At that moment, a woman nearby stood, one with long, swept-back horns, reddish-brown skin, and cloven hooves, though the last were surprisingly dainty. She also had a tail which was shorter and more muscular looking than Kanae’s, and she was wearing an elaborately embroidered black halter top and a pair of blue trousers. The woman’s eyes were a striking shade of orange, and she held a glass as she approached, another demoness quickly following, this one garbed in much less striking clothing.
“Pardon my intrusion, but may I sit with you?” the demoness asked, pausing with a hand on a chair. She obviously expected to be given permission, but Isalla was surprised that she was waiting, considering the ornate gold jewelry that adorned her neck, wrists, and even a couple of horn rings set with garnets or rubies.
“Go right ahead,” Kanae said, smiling slightly as she glanced around. “I see that there’s a much more interesting crowd here than last time I visited. Have things simply changed that much, or is it because of the rumors that the Flame of Ember was taken to the spire?”
The woman laughed, taking a seat and smiling, the other woman standing just behind her. “Ah, you’ve heard those rumors, have you? I had almost thought you might be here about them yourself… but yes, that’s a good part of why many of us are here, in the hopes that she’ll be inclined to go with someone aside from Her Majesty. I am Wysterith Sorrowlight. May I ask your name?”
“Kanae Darkshade,” Kanae replied, smiling slightly. “I’ve heard of you, Lady Sorrowlight. Your family forges excellent armor, from all that I’ve seen.”
“Thank you for the compliment. And Kanae, really? I’ve heard of you, you’ve traveled an enormous part of the hells, and some journals of your travels are almost legendary at this point,” Wysterith said, her eyebrows rising. “Is there truly an entire mountain range of iron to the far west?”
Isalla looked at Kanae in a little shock, blinking as her mouth half-opened to speak, then paused and closed it again. She hadn’t heard that Kanae was famous before, and yet her companion simply smiled.
“There is, though I wouldn’t call it pure iron. Iron-rich ore, and quite a bit of ash, though,” Kanae said, nodding.
“Fascinating. It’s unfortunate that it’s too far away to make use of. We have a lot of iron here, after all,” Wysterith said, sighing slightly. She glanced at Isalla and raised an eyebrow. “I hadn’t heard of you having any traveling companions, though, let alone a human.”
“Yes, well, Myra’s friend went missing the last time she came to Estalia, and she came to me for help finding her friend. Unlike you, she didn’t know anything about my travels, she just knew I knew a lot more about the region,” Kanae said, smiling warmly as she glanced over at Isalla, who belatedly realized that she was the Myra being spoken of. “The clues were… unfortunately faint, but the best lead so far has led us here, to the spire. We think her friend may have joined the priesthood of Estalia, and thought we’d try to investigate. Unfortunately, getting information out of the spire is… difficult.”
“That would be putting it mildly,” Wysterith agreed, sighing heavily. “We don’t even have confirmation that the Flame of Ember is inside the spire, despite multiple inquiries. On the other hand, Her Majesty did visit a few weeks ago, so I have high hopes for our chances. Not that any of us will likely get her, mind you, but at least there’s a chance.”
“Mm, I do understand. Not precisely the sort of opportunity I’d be interested in, since there isn’t much guarantee of success, but I wish you the best,” Kanae replied politely.
“Ah, pardon me, Lady Sorrowlight, but I have to ask… do you know if I’ll be able to get in touch with my friend if she is in the spire?” Isalla asked, leaning forward. “I think she went willingly, from what I’ve heard, but I’m not sure.”
“That is the question… and most likely. They won’t tell you if she’s there, but if she joined them, she’ll be able to come out and visit once her initiation is complete,” Wysterith said, examining Isalla closely, then smiled. “I suspect that they’ll try to recruit you if given half a chance. Are you looking for employment, perchance?”
Isalla saw Kanae glancing at her, and she also saw the server returning with a tray piled with food. She couldn’t help flushing as she shook her head and replied quickly, wishing people wouldn’t keep making her offers. “I’m not. At the moment I’m just trying to find Orla and ensure that she’s well before starting the journey home. I may not agree with her if she decided to join Estalia’s faith, but it’s her choice.”
“Here you are, ladies,” the server said, holding the tray with his two lower arms as the upper ones deposited the two crystalline glasses in front of them. He set down a polished bottle of wine next, then utensils, napkins, a
nd at last a pair of platters piled with thinly cut meat and a variety of purple vegetables that Isalla couldn’t quite identify. There seemed to be two types, and at a guess she thought one was similar to a cucumber, while the other was more like a potato. All of the food smelled quite good, causing Isalla’s stomach to rumble softly.
“Would you like me to open—” the server began, but stopped as Kanae picked up the bottle, tapped it once, listening closely to it, then pulled out a knife. She popped the cork with an adroit twist of her wrist, with more ease than Isalla had expected, then took a sniff and nodded.
“An excellent vintage, my thanks,” Kanae said, smiling at the server before carefully pouring herself a glass of midnight-black wine, then pouring one for Isalla. “Now, as interesting as the conversation has been, Lady Sorrowlight, I’m afraid it has been a long day for Myra and I. Might we have a bit of privacy to eat and rest? We can always speak on the morrow.”
“Certainly. It was a pleasure meeting you, Kanae, and I hope to speak with you in the coming days,” Wysterith said, sliding her chair back as she stood, and she looked at Isalla and smiled as the server silently left. “It was interesting to meet you as well, Myra. Do let me know if you reconsider.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Isalla said, her heartbeat quickening with nervousness. At last the woman went back to her previous table, and Isalla picked up the utensils to eat. The meat looked excellent, and there was an odd but enticing smell to the wine.
“I hadn’t realized my reputation was still well-known. It’s been centuries since I published any journals of my travels,” Kanae murmured, taking a bite of meat and chewing thoughtfully. “I suppose it might be good, in some ways. It’ll certainly help keep others from being too forward with us, which is helpful.”
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