Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 14

With the aid of Ilyshn’ish’s spellsongs, the trip to E-Rantel from the Dwarven cities was drastically faster than their first one together weeks ago. She was mainly concerned that their flight time would cut into her day off, and hopeful that arriving early would add to it. Between throwing all the useful enchantments she thought would help onto Hejinmal, and the gains – or losses, rather – he had made over the long weeks he had spent working, they arrived over E-Rantel eleven hours after their departure from Feoh Raizo.

Dawn was approaching and, though the sun was visible from the heights at which they soared, it had not yet crested the horizon to shed its light against the city walls far below.

“You’re not landing, sister?” Hejinmal looked up at his sister as he slowly descended.

“I’m taking a better look at the city first,” she replied. “I want to at least see the entire layout of this place from above before trying to explore it on the ground.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Hejinmal yawned. “Just don’t fly too low over to the rooftops – a Lich might come up and yell at you. I’ll be going on ahead then…maybe I can finally get a decent nap. ”

His statement held the uncomfortable ring of truth to it. The trading outpost above Feoh Jura was filled with the clamour of its constant traffic, and the office at Feoh Berkana was many times worse. The ramshackle hoardings on the narrow inner wall of E-Rantel at least put some distance between themselves and the city streets. It was much nicer than…

Ilyshn’ish shook her head violently, scowling down at the makeshift shelter. She recalled the small pens and even smaller broom closet that she was forced to live in. It was not nice – she and her kin were being subjected to utterly dismal conditions. She needed to find a way to improve her lot: to get away before her will crumbled away as it had with the others and she settled into a dreary life of acceptance as something treated with no more care than a Golem or Undead minion.

Lowering herself to an altitude that allowed her to take in the features of the city in clear detail, it wasn’t until the glow of the sun-washed over the battlements of E-Rantel that she was satisfied that she had seen everything about the layout of the city that she could from above. Making her final approach to the wall, she noted Kilistran near the front desk being prepared for a delivery. Even after weeks of seeing a similar situation with the rest of her siblings and half-siblings, it still grated on her nerves to see an Elder Dragon being reduced to nothing more than a freight haulier.

“Mother,” Ilyshn’ish greeted Kilistran testily as she alighted on the open stretch of wall in front of the hoardings.

“Daughter,” Kilistran replied. “Welcome home.”

Ilyshn’ish splayed her talons and dug them into the stone, but decided not to waste her breath on a retort.

“Have you seen what’s happening up north?” She asked instead.

“Hmm…up until now, I’ve been assigned to deliveries to either Feoh Jura or Feoh Berkana – they seem to alternate. Agricultural produce, mostly, I believe.”

Ilyshn’ish resisted the impulse to sniff at the containers being strapped onto Kilistran. Using such valuable items on Dragons to deliver cheap grain and greens was beyond her comprehension. Surely they had better things to do than torture them with this drudgery. Still, she took it as a good sign that someone else had gained even a slight interest in the world beyond bleakly staring at nothing in particular.

“You’re keeping track of what you’re carrying?” Ilyshn’ish tilted her head to eye her mother.

“Well, if you’re carrying some unknown things for days, you’re bound to become curious as to what it is, no?”

“I suppose. We spend mere minutes on the ground every day,” Ilyshn’ish snorted as she complained to her mother, “I can’t believe how willing they are to run us ragged like this. Hejinmal’s in a state of near-collapse at every stop.”

“It is good for him: he could stand to lose all that excess weight,” Kilistran replied. “I doubt you were ever even slightly winded after weeks of flying back and forth. You’ve become quite strong compared to everyone else, though even I can’t imagine why you learn some of the magic that you do.”

Kilistran’s head slowly tilted downward as she watched her daughter assume the appearance of a Human female with a head of lustrous, frost-white, hair. The magical accessories she wore scaled down to fit her new shape, save for the ring on her tail which somehow ended up on one of her fingers. Her stomach growled – it was the Ring of Sustenance – she considered changing out the Ring of Regeneration for it. Then again, she could see what sort of fare the city offered now that she had some time to herself.

“I thought it would be useful for whenever I left the enclave to see the world,” Ilyshn’ish replied as she fussed over her appearance. “Now my efforts are paying off and I can go explore this Human city. How do I look, mother?”

“Like a Human,” Kilistran said dismissively, “you’ve taken more interest in observing this city and its people than I; I hardly care at all beyond accidentally squashing one of them and getting into trouble.”

“I should’ve frosted up a wall to turn into a mirror,” Ilyshn’ish muttered, combing her fingers through an unfamiliar head of hair. “If anyone asks, let them know I’m in the city: I would rather not have a swarm of these Undead chasing me around like I’m some sort of fugitive.”

“I will let one of the employees know before I head off,” her mother replied. “Be careful out there, dear: I hear there’s a whole nest of Adventurers in the city that are…aggressively searching for better equipment. I don’t want to find out that my most promising child was turned into a pair of boots.”

“I doubt anyone would notice me, mother,” Ilyshn’ish said as she walked away to the edge of the wall and hopped off.

“Oh, and if you find anything nice,” Kilistran’s voice followed down after her, “please remember your poor old mother. They took everything away, they did…”

Her mother’s mournful tone triggered a pang of loss over her own belongings: whoever these people were, she had long learned that they certainly had no care for a Dragon’s mental health. The other members of the enclave had been cowed into submission, and they were no longer the proud and lively kindred that she once knew. Most only clung to their sanity through the valuable items that they were equipped with as they listlessly flew from post to post; none had the essential comfort of the personal hoards of treasure that they spent their lives accumulating.

Ilyshn’ish hesitated as she stood in the shadow of the wall, poking her head out cautiously into the morning light to look up and down the street. A large Undead sentry that stood almost half again as tall as herself looked over in her direction, and she scurried away over the cobblestones before it decided to come investigate. Though it had been weeks since she was last in the city, the Demihuman Quarter was still in the initial phases of its construction and sparsely populated.

Within the confines of the city walls, a terraced bowl had been fashioned, and each section of the quarter would meet the needs of different races. The city walls themselves could be considered the upper level of the Demihuman Quarter, reserved for species capable of flight who desired high, safe places to make their homes. The Frost Dragons had been allocated the southern wall that separated the quarter from the central district, but, aside from them, it seemed no other beings were making use of the battlements yet.

The ground level of the Demihuman Quarter was mostly bare of features beyond its basic layout, and a bare handful of other races could be seen. The bottom of the bowl was occupied by a small lake, and several additional groups of Lizardmen had constructed dwellings along its shore. In the middle of the lake was an island that still appeared to be unoccupied, save for several saplings that someone had recently planted. Goblins and Ogres had set up a camp of some sort in the temperate middle sections, and a few Dwarves could be seen milling about various parts of the earthworks.

Occupying a large area near to the western entrance of the quarter was the only permanent-looking group of buildings so far: though, upon closer inspection, the entire complex that she had noted after her initial arrival to E-Rantel did not appear to be fully completed yet. From here was where those females that the Vampire Brides deferred to came out of, and other tiny figures of indeterminate nature scurried about within making unsettling noises. Ilyshn’ish gave the strange facility a wide berth as she crossed into the common area of the city.

The contrast between one side of the gatehouse and the other was quite stark: the hubbub of city life filled the street and Humans of both genders milled about for reasons Ilyshn’ish could not yet discern. She adroitly wove her way down the street, her Blindsight offering a perfect awareness of the activity in a wide area around her. As she did not need to rely on her vision to navigate her surroundings, her head turned this way and that to take in the sights as she strolled by. Aimlessly meandering through the city, she allowed her senses to lead her wherever she thought she might find something interesting or valuable, traversing both busy streets and dark alleys as she went.

Something seemed off, however. Wherever she went, gazes followed her. Eventually, she stopped in a shadowed alcove to figure out why before Adventurers noticed and harvested her to fashion equipment out of. It was the first time she had assumed a Human guise, but she didn’t think she had committed any major errors. As her mother had said, she had observed the denizens of the city thoroughly, and her current appearance was a result of those careful observations.

Ilyshn’ish had fashioned the appearance of a humanoid female – or at least she assumed it was female: between the Dwarves and the Vampire Brides, she was not sure which was more so. Just in case, she had confirmed it by sneaking near to a few Humans gathered around a produce stand and sniffing them discreetly. After that, she withdrew to a secluded alley to refine her appearance by imitating the ones who seemed to carry themselves with the greatest degree of confidence.

No scales were showing on her skin, no tail behind her nor horns on her head. She felt her teeth…they seemed to be fine as well. Humans had a terrible sense of smell, so she didn’t think it had anything to do with scent. Her clothing matched what was commonly worn to help her blend in; she even wore shoes and stockings under her long, soft dress. The amount of attention she was receiving was far more than what she had experienced in Feoh Berkana, and the scrutiny did not mesh well with her reclusive Frost Dragon nature in this strange place: her instincts kept her jumpy and defensive.

Ultimately unable to discern what was wrong no matter how much she examined herself, Ilyshn’ish continued on her way, plastering a friendly expression on her face while plagued by the sense that she was sticking out somehow to attract so much attention. The feeling lessened as she made her way into a large, crowded plaza. She noted that Humans seemed to rely primarily on their poor eyesight and dull hearing to register the world beyond their reach, so mingling into large crowds greatly limited their ability to notice her by the same measure. Able to finally relax somewhat, she slipped into the flow of pedestrians and continued to observe her surroundings.

Everywhere she went, it appeared that Humans were exchanging their valuables for items. She supposed it was the ‘trade’ that she had read about, seen glimpses of in Feoh Berkana, and tried imitating outside of Feoh Raizo. Having not experienced Human trade herself, however, she couldn’t be sure. Coins flowed one way, while items flowed back – so good, so far. Sometimes coins flowed back as well. Relying on her treasure sense to measure the value of various exchanges, Ilyshn’ish became greatly confused.

Very little made sense: why was wood or food worth copper? Why was silver being exchanged for cloth? Though she had exchanged her kill in front of Feoh Raizo for some gold coins, the exact reasoning for the values in the exchange were beyond her. There were a few that she thought made more sense, and then there were transactions that offended her outright. Her mouth fell open when she witnessed three gold coins being traded for some sort of cheap glass object and she fought to keep the bile rising in her throat down.

One thing she did come to understand was that, even if she found something that she wanted, she had very few gold coins to exchange and no real sense of what anything was worth to these strange creatures.

The Frost Dragons had been explicitly ordered not to raid or plunder the places of the Sorcerous Kingdom and the Dwarven territories that they flew over, so her entire extended family remained similarly impoverished. Since there were no memories she could refer to in order to discern what Humans considered important, Ilyshn’ish didn’t even have a sense of what mattered to them the most. She pondered her conundrum as she continued to make her way through the bright stalls and crowded pathways until she finally settled on some questions to ask.

Stopping in front of a Human female, who was wiping the sweat off of her brow before a set of crates, Ilyshn’ish cleared her throat several times and tested her voice before raising it to address her.

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