Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 10

Ilyshn’ish crawled on her hands and knees, upside down on the ceiling of her lair. She fished out a platinum coin and fixed it to the ice. It was the five hundredth coin attached to the ceiling, so she decided that it was an excellent time to take a break.

She silently dropped down to the floor. Her hand went into one of her Infinite Haversacks, producing a magical light. A smile grew on her lips after she activated the item and held it aloft.

Not bad…

The platinum coins caught the illumination and sparkled like a field of glittering stars. Once she placed a few thousand more coins up there, it would truly begin to look magnificent.

Most of her morning had been taken up moving her treasure from Warden’s Vale to her lair. A metre-high pile of platinum coins and diamonds awaited installation and much more would eventually make its way over from the Empire. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, satisfaction filling her being over the lair’s growing sense of wealth.

At the same time, the underlying sense of nervousness over her new assignment marred the otherwise wonderful feeling. She wouldn’t be able to linger much longer.

Ilyshn’ish returned to her natural appearance, padding out of the frozen island’s tunnels and slipping into the lake. She broke out of the ice on the other side, rising into the air on leisurely wingbeats. As she circled the mountain, she took inventory of her domain below.

The snow cloaking the lower slopes was rapidly receding, giving way to spring. Her minions’ camp had grown slightly, adding another storehouse and some shelters for the freshly-acquired Goblin minions. Several people appeared to be missing, including Nemel. Ilyshn’ish’s gaze went across the river.

Ilyshn’ish’s patrol brought her to the northern border of her territory. She spotted a pair of Krkonoše Rangers and watched them for a time. Most of their observable behaviours had become familiar to her since moving in and she was confident that she could pass herself off as one of them. At least if she didn’t have to speak their language. Their general attitudes were markedly Ranger-ish, which was mostly in line with a Frost Dragon’s outlook.

In hindsight, it was convenient to have the mutualistic races living nearby to observe. Or maybe the presence of the felid Beastmen was what convinced Lady Shalltear that it was possible to send her to the Beastman country.

The sight of a barge coming up the river prompted Ilyshn’ish to fly down to Warden’s Vale. She landed in front of the harbourmaster’s office and poked her head in. Jeeves looked up from his paperwork.

“Good afternoon, Dame Verilyn!”

“Good afternoon, Jeeves. What’s in that barge coming upriver?”

Jeeves reached out and pulled a binder out from the row in front of him. His bony fingers flipped through the pages.

“Nothing out of the ordinary, I’m afraid,” the Skeleton Merchant said. “We have Shrouds of Sleep coming back from the last meat delivery, iron ore, reagents for alchemy and enchanting…if you’re looking for your shipments from the Empire, they only come in once a week and everything stored in Wagner County was delivered all at once.”

“I see,” she said with a disappointed frown. “Thank you for letting me know, Jeeves.”

“It is always a pleasure, Dame Verilyn.”

Ilyshn’ish had already moved everything in her excitement, so it seemed that there was little else to do. She took off from the harbour, flying over to the village and landing behind Baroness Zahradnik’s manor. In the village square, she found Nemel, Fendros, Elise and Ida, plus Fi and Gog, the two Goblin mystics. The villagers offered curious looks at the two Goblins, but otherwise minded their own business.

“Dame Verilyn,” Nemel curtsied as Ilyshn’ish approached. “Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon,” Ilyshn’ish bobbed her head. “What brings you to the harbour?”

“Just taking another look around,” her minion answered. “When we arrived, we only looked at what each place was, but we didn’t really look at what they were doing. It’s all quite astonishing once you add everything up.”

“Will that make my taxes add up at an astonishing rate?”

Nemel turned her head, glancing at their surroundings. She was clearly wary about something, but Dame Verilyn couldn’t detect any threats.

“Dame Verilyn,” she said, “I understand that you’re very self-assured, but it’s usually not good form to discuss finances in public like this. Maybe you’d like to join us on our trip to the Lizardman village? We can talk about things on the way there.”

“Why are you going to the Lizardman village?”

“I’m not very familiar with druidic magic, so I’m headed there to consult with their Druids. Dame Gronvidr said that they have a sort of school for Druids and I’d like to see if our Goblins can learn from them. Also, I put in a request for a camp Merchant with Nonna on the off chance that she might know of one and we ended up getting a Lizardman Merchant.”

They went over to the lakeside harbour and boarded the small barge moored there. The Elder Lich captain gave Ilyshn’ish what she thought was a dirty look. She assumed her Snow Elf appearance before taking a seat on the cabin rooftop beside Nemel.

“So,” Ilyshn’ish said, “what was it that you wanted to discuss?”

“I’m adjusting the development schedule,” Nemel replied. “Well, it’s more like I’m redoing it. We’re not done examining everything yet, but it’s clear that my initial plans were far too…humble.”

“That’s a good thing…I think? It means I get more taxes sooner, right?”

“About that,” Nemel said hesitantly, “I’m advising that you waive taxes for the next few years…D-dame Verilyn?!”

Nemel’s figure blurred as Ilyshn’ish’s eyes welled with tears. She sobbed and the floodgates broke loose.

“You promised me taxes!” Ilyshn’ish wailed, “I put my hopes and dreams in you!”

“Y-you’ll get your taxes eventually!” The liar leaned toward Ilyshn’ish with a placating gesture, “I just wanted to take our demesne’s production and reinvest it to accelerate development. You’ll get more taxes in the long run than you would have if you had just hoarded your revenues.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“But it’s good economic sense!”

Ilyshn’ish turned her head away with a sniff. She shook away the hand on her arm. Why had she been foolish enough to trust a Human? They were like tiny Green Dragons without scales.

“Dame Verilyn,” the Human said, “I don’t understand. Why is it so terrible that you’d react like this? I didn’t even know Dragons could cry!”

“We can’t.”

“…are you saying that those are fake tears?”

“No,” Ilyshn’ish said, “I’m saying that Dragons can’t cry. But other races can cry. To be frank I’d be beside myself with the strangeness of it if I hadn’t cried over Hejinmal’s single gold coin back then.”

With alternate selves came many strange things. A Dragon’s superior psyche could overcome most of them, but some weren’t so easy to control.

“Now I’m confused,” the Human said. “Would you be just as upset if you were a Dragon?”

“Yes. I just wouldn’t cry over it.”

“Can you at least tell me why you’re so upset? I felt that what I recommended would please you.”

Ilyshn’ish heaved a sigh.

“You promised me something,” she said. “Then it turned out to be a lie.”

“But it’s not a lie. I’m just amending what I said. It’s an improvement on the original promise!”

“Not to me, it isn’t. You were supposed to oversee the development of a part of my land and produce taxes. Instead of taxes, I got an amendment. That makes it a lie.”

“Even if that’s the case, it got replaced with something better, right?”

“How would I know?” Ilyshn’ish said, “I’m a Frost Dragon. I already went out on a limb with this abstract arrangement hoping for a desirable outcome. Instead, I got some other abstract thing.”

She simmered internally over how she had gotten so excited over nothing. Since the Viridian Dragon Lord had successfully collected wealth from Humans, Ilyshn’ish thought that she could do it too. Except she didn’t have the mental faculties to deal with all of the convoluted humanisms as Green Dragons could. It was proving to be a sorrow-filled lesson about going beyond the bounds of one’s nature.

“Then how does Lady Zahradnik do anything with you? I’m sure she’s had to change things here and there as you learn about one another.”

“I don’t have any problems with Lady Zahradnik,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “If Lady Zahradnik says that she’ll do something, she does it. If she promises to give me something, she gives it. She hasn’t lied to me a single time.”

The liar fell silent. Ilyshn’ish could sense that the Human was filled with disbelief at her statement.

That’s the problem with Humans: they’re just so transient and unreliable, swirling around like a snowflake in a blizzard. What should I do with these ‘minions’ now…

They travelled in silence while the vessel completed its journey. Chief Esess and several attendants awaited them at the village berth.

“Welcome,” the Lizardman Lord greeted them cheerfully. “It’s good to…what happened?”

Ilyshn’ish sighed again. She scrubbed her cheeks and fixed her appearance.

“Dame Verilyn got upset over something I proposed,” the Human said. “I have no idea why she’s being like this.”

Chief Esess looked between them, scratching the black scales of his head.

“That’s a pretty vague explanation,” he said. “What did you propose?”

“I asked if she could waive our taxes so we could focus our resources on demesne development. Then she cried.”

“…I didn’t know Dragons could cry.”

“They can’t,” Ilyshn’ish said.

“I thought so,” Chief Esess said. “Anyway, what did she cry about?”

“Something about promises and abstract stuff and being a liar.”

“What did you promise?”

“Our arrangement was that I come and work for Dame Verilyn, managing her territory in her name.”

The Lizardman Lord lowered his hand and crossed his arms.

“Let me guess: you promised that she would get taxes once you got started.”

“That’s right,” the promise-breaker said.

“Then you’re the one in the wrong here.”

“How?!” The Human blurted out.

“Because you said you’d do something,” Chief Esess said, “and now you’re not.”

“But the new proposal is better.”

Chief Esess shook his head slowly.

“I assume that Dame Verilyn told you how Frost Dragons learn and remember things.”

“Yes, that’s right. They learn best through direct experiences. They also remember every experience.”

“…so you know that and you’re still doing this to her?”

“I have no idea what I’m doing!”

“Humans…” Chief Esess muttered under his breath, “alright, look. Did your territory under management earn anything since you arrived?”

“A bit…”

“Then you owe Dame Verilyn taxes, right? Have you paid those taxes?”

“No? It’s only been two days since we got here. They’re usually collected seasonally.”

“But that doesn’t help you with the big problem you’ve got brewing right now,” Chief Esess told the Human. “Do you want it solved or not?”

“I do,” the Human replied. “I really don’t follow you, though.”

“That doesn’t matter, just pay her before something happens to you.”

The Human pulled a ledger out of the satchel slung over her shoulder. After opening it and studying the content for a moment, she unfastened a pouch from her belt and fished out an assortment of coins. She held them out to Ilyshn’ish.

“These are your taxes as of noon today, Dame Verilyn.”

Ilyshn’ish received the coins, which amounted to two gold, three silver and seven copper. If she made that much in two days, her annual taxes would amount to fifty-one platinum and eight gold…

“Now make your proposal again,” Chief Esess said.

Nemel frowned at the Lizardman Lord before turning to address Ilyshn’ish again.

“Dame Verilyn,” she said, “I recommend that you reinvest your taxes to speed up the development of your territory.”

“If you think that’s prudent,” Ilyshn’ish replied. “You are supposed to manage my territory, after all.”

She deposited the coins back into Nemel’s hand. Her minion looked thoroughly confused.

“Wait, what? I still don’t get what happened.”

Chief Esess exchanged a look with Ilyshn’ish. The Lizardman Lord let out a rueful chuckle.

“The problem was that you were told everything you needed to know about what would happen. Then you chose to ignore it. You’re not the first Human that I’ve seen that assumes other races are just funny-looking Humans that think and act just like them. In this case, you were doing something terribly dangerous. You may still be doing something dangerous depending on how things turn out.”

Nemel still looked clueless. Chief Esess rubbed the back of his neck with a clawed hand.

“Okay, so you and Dame Verilyn had an agreement. A promise. You promised to serve her and produce taxes. She agreed to let you manage her land. To her, it’s ‘I agreed to have this human do this thing’ and she’s been waiting for the result. The experience. Before, the experience was ‘a Human promised to do this, but they didn’t and offered some other unknown thing instead’. Now, the experience is ‘a Human promised to do this, and they did it’. You get it?”

“Not really,” Nemel frowned. “Dame Verilyn is pretty smart; why can’t she just see where everything is going?”

“Because she can’t,” Chief Esess said. “She can’t do it any more than you can fly by flapping your arms. That’s how Frost Dragons work. They don’t know what something is for certain until they experience it. When you throw around terms and concepts that are foreign to her, it’s just a big nothing in her head. The best she can do is compare it to what she’s seen or put a lot of effort into collecting information on. Frost Dragons have perfect memories, but the way that they interpret the world and act on it is contingent on those chains of experiences that they remember forever. That’s why what you’re doing is dangerous.”

“Dangerous in what way?”

“You’re instilling expectations into her. If you ‘lie’, then you are a proven liar and everything you say and do will be viewed with distrust because Dame Verilyn will remember that one time you lied forever. On top of that, she made a promise to you and you can be sure that she’ll try to keep that promise. The problem is that you aren’t keeping yours and she’ll need to do something about that – something that will free her from her promise to you.

“I don’t know what that means in the Sorcerous Kingdom, but if she wasn’t one of His Majesty’s subjects, she’d probably just kill you. You’re still not out of danger, though: you’ve shown that you can do as promised, and now she’s expecting you to deliver on your new promise. If your ‘reinvestment’ doesn’t work out as intended, you’re going to be going through this all over again.”

Nemel stared at the coins in her hand and swallowed.

“So when I say something like ‘development’,” she asked, “what do you have in mind, Dame Verilyn?”

“I said so from the beginning, didn’t I?” Ilyshn’ish answered.

“But your idea of a ‘farming village’ didn’t match mine…”

Chief Esess let out a low laugh.

“You had better check to see what those ‘farming villages’ look like before you make any more proposals. After travelling around the duchy, I can tell you that the ones here are nothing like the ones inland.”

“I’ll be sure to visit them,” Nemel said. “By the way, how did you know what to do with Dame Verilyn?”

“Baroness Zahradnik gave the both of us lessons on governance and such. We went through weeks and weeks of classes, so I got to see first-hand how she learned things.”

“Classes…wait a minute,” Nemel furrowed her brow at Ilyshn’ish, “doesn’t that mean you already know about all this?”

“Just because I’ve spent some time learning things with Lady Zahradnik doesn’t mean that I know all there is to know,” Ilyshn’ish told her. “I remember everything that went on during those classes, though. Some day, I’ll be able to make more sense out of it, but that won’t turn me into some sort of Dragon Lord.”

“You should be some sort of Dragon Lord already, shouldn’t you?” Chief Esess noted.

“I don’t know why people keep saying that,” Ilyshn’ish frowned. “It isn’t as if I do anything especially powerful. The other ways are to be an Ancient Dragon or to be an exotic magic caster, and I am neither of those.”

Not being able to cast magic at all was becoming increasingly frustrating. Ilyshn’ish watched her four Human minions cast spells every day in the Empire and she still hadn’t grasped even the slightest inkling of what they were doing. Even asking them to explain didn’t get her any closer to harnessing her innate draconic magic.

“Now,” Chief Esess said, “I believe you’re here for a couple of things…”

“Yes, that’s right,” Nemel nodded. “Fi and Gog here joined my settlement with their tribe recently and I’d like to see if they can learn from the Druids here. I don’t think the Sorcerous Kingdom has any official druidic circles and your group here seems to be the closest to one.”

“Mm. That’s true. The only organised group of Druids larger than ours is the one serving the Lizardman Alliance village in northern Tob. Most tribes in the Sorcerous Kingdom are independent of one another and their mystics are equally so. I’m not sure at what point a ‘group of Druids’ becomes a ‘druidic circle’, but it’s probably something we’ll have to look into at some point. What was the other thing?”

Nemel produced a scrap of paper from one of her pouches.

“I’m here to pick up Ass…assza? Sorry, I don’t know how to pronounce this. I put up a request for a mercantile agent for my settlement and Nonna pointed me in this direction.”

“Aszasza,” Chief Esess said. “He’s one of the Merchants working here. This way.”

Chief Esess led them deeper into the circular village complex. They walked through the outer ring, crossing the bridge to the inner village where several market stands were open for business. The Humans stuck with Nemel, but the two Goblin mystics went to curiously look at the wares on display.

“Did we see him the other day in Wagner County?” Nemel asked.

“No. Most Lizardmen don’t like straying too far from home. It’s even worse if you’re far from water. Travelling around the duchy is rough.”

The Lizardman Lord raised a foot and wiggled his webbed toes.

“Dry land does a number on the feet, so preparations must be made to endure the journey. Well, not so much the journey since we get around quickly here, but standing around at each stop and working. The bunch that moved into E-Rantel complain about the baked city streets all the time.”

“If that’s the case, will Aszasza be alright working for our territory?”

“He’s the one that agreed to it,” Chief Esess said. “You’ll find out whether it’s alright or not when he starts working.”

Compared to Humans, who tended to overcomplicate everything and were vulnerable to optimism and pessimism, Lizardmen were more practical and direct. That behaviour tended to make the Lizardmen feel shrewd and defensive, as they only committed as much as they cared to risk and were quick to assess a situation, minimise losses, and create contingencies.

They didn’t stop at any of the stands, instead going past them to one of the storage rooms. A skinny Lizardman with ochre scales stood between four of its brown-scaled fellows, examining the goods on one of the shelves.

“Aszasza,” Chief Esess called out to him. “Your new wife’s here to pick you up.”

A strangled noise came out of Nemel.

“W-wife?” She took a step back.

“That’s right,” the Lizardman Lord said. “Since he’s marrying into your village, you offered yourself, right? Or maybe it’s one of these other females?”

Fendros, Elise and Ida retreated behind Nemel.

“I, uh…I didn’t know that he would be marrying into our village,” Nemel said. “Is that some custom or law or…”

“Hey, now,” Chief Esess drew himself up to his full height. “Don’t tell me that you expected to run off with one of my people just like that! How do we know he’ll be taken care of if you can’t commit to at least this much?”

Nemel’s eyes threatened to roll out of her head as her mouth worked soundlessly. Her eyes went back and forth between the three Lizardmen, who had come forward at the rising commotion. The boss minion swallowed.

“Which one is Aszasza?” Nemel asked, “Who are the others?”

“Aszasza is the one in the middle,” Chief Esess said. “The other four are his assistants. They’ll be your secondary husbands. Make sure you take care of their needs.”

“Congratulations,” Ilyshn’ish smiled.

“Um…”

Weak sounds issued from Nemel, who had bunched up her hands below her chin. Rather than being pleased over the arrangement, she was thoroughly distressed.

“Chief,” a female voice called from the doorway, “about the…what’s happening here?”

“O-oh, Ezsris,” Chief Esess glanced at the newcomer nervously, “we were just introducing Aszasza to the Humans here.”

“Ah, the Merchant thing,” the Lizardman Ranger nodded. “But why does this Human look so out of sorts? Is she sick?”

“She just got married,” Ilyshn’ish said.

“Married?”

Chief Esess made a frantic gesture.

“I-it’s nothing! What did you come to see me about?”

“It doesn’t look like ‘nothing’,” Ezsris eyed her Lord suspiciously. “Who did she get married to?”

“These five Lizardmen,” Ilyshn’ish told her. “Chief Esess implied that it was some sort of custom or law…”

The Lizardman Lord retreated. Ezsris’ clawed foot caught him in the hip, knocking him to the ground. She started pummelling him with her quarterstaff.

“Ow! That hurts! Oof–”

Ezsris jabbed him in the belly with the end of her weapon.

“Don’t mind this idiot,” she said. “There’s no custom or law like that.”

“Really?”

“What if she was interested?” Chief Esess wheezed.

Nemel winced as Chief Esess was swatted again.

“Really,” Ezsris replied, giving the Lizardman Lord another thump. “You don’t have to marry them if you don’t want to.”

“Then…no offence,” Nemel said, “but I don’t think it would work.”

It wouldn’t? Ilyshn’ish suppressed her disappointment. She wanted to see what the children looked like.

Following a belated introduction between the two parties, Chief Esess limped out of the storeroom, leading them up to the second floor of the building. Ezsris’ quarterstaff tapped over the floor as she followed the Chief with narrowed eyes. They stopped at a room with several Lizardman ‘priests’. Csersch, the forest green Head Druid, came up to greet them.

“I see you’ve been up to some mischief again, Chief.”

“Don’t heal him,” Ezsris muttered darkly.

“Right. No heals.”

“Why does the Head Hunter have more clout than the Tribe’s Chief?” Chief Esess complained.

Ezsris raised her staff threateningly.

“A-anyway,” Chief Esess said. “These Humans came by to see if you could teach these Goblins druidic magic.”

Csersch leaned forward to examine Fi and Gog.

“Hmm…they have the look of mystics,” he said, “but are you sure they’re Druids?”

“Fi appears to be something like a Druid, at least,” Nemel said. “She has apothecary skills and can cast healing magic. The only other vocations that I can think of that do both are Clerics, Priests and Alchemists, but I don’t think they appear in these Goblins’ tribal culture.”

“I don’t see any flaws with that logic. What about Gog?”

“Well, Gog can cast Summon Spices, but he doesn’t appear to have anything else.”

“I see,” Csersch said. “So he could be anything that Goblin tribes might have. I’m willing to try teaching them, but there are a few things that need to be taken care of first.”

“What things?” Nemel asked.

“Some regulations laid down by Lady Zahradnik,” Csersch answered. “First, vocational training comes after basic education. All students need to meet a certain standard of literacy and mathematical skills.”

“So I need to send them to school?”

“If it was Warden’s Vale or any territory directly under Baroness Zahradnik, tuition is paid for by House Zahradnik. Since Dame Verilyn is here, I assume you’re affiliated with her in some way…”

“Yes, that’s right,” Nemel nodded. “I’m her seneschal. The rest you see here are her subjects.”

“Then you’ll have to do it the same way that the Winter Scale Tribe does. You need to register them as students and include the cost of education in the territorial budget. If you have your own teachers, that works too so long as you can match the territory’s educational standards.”

“Is it expensive to send students to Warden’s Vale?”

“Not relative to the average income here. The teachers there are trained to teach Humans, however. Our village opted to have our own teachers who are accustomed to working with Lizardmen children. All races have their differences, so it may be better for someone in Dame Verilyn’s territory to learn how to teach Goblins. Especially since there are always more Goblins.”

Nemel nodded thoughtfully. Her gaze went to Fendros, who whimpered in response.

“They use Re-Estize script here, right?” Nemel asked.

“That’s right,” Csersch nodded.

“Then it’s probably best to do as you’ve suggested. We’ll be back when we get that done.”

Goblins were notoriously simple-minded, so Ilyshn’ish wondered how long that would take.

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