Interlude: Itzcota

Itzcota, ‘Izzy’ to her friends, had watched through the rough bars of the makeshift prison that the invaders had put her in as they had conducted their funeral rights. Their rituals were both strange and familiar: bodies burnt to ash, but collected instead of scattered. The rain had cleared, but the great ocean was still restless, and churned angrily over the home of the Children of the Sea.

Heavy manacles bound her hands, inscribed with runes to suppress her Blessing. She wasn’t sure why she was still alive. She had been struck down by one of the fey that had allied themselves with the invaders — a Grimalkin who wielded the power of the heavens themselves. She had felt her lifeblood draining away, said her last prayer to the Gods, and prepared herself for the Cycle, secure in her faith that her brave and honourable life would be rewarded.

But then she had been saved. Healed by one of the invaders, a lion-earred woman who had pulled her back from the brink of death with some particularly powerful magic and refused to allow one of the red-eyes to slay her. Confusing, to say the least.

There was the sound of a bolt being drawn, and Izzy and the rest of her fellows looked up from where they were sitting. The door opened, and the terrifyingly strong half-demon who had struck down dozens of Caith strode into the room, accompanied by the Lion-earred healer and… a Caith?

He was a handsome, tall man, and wore armour similar to the invaders. His hands were unshackled, and around his neck hung a copper pendant similar to the other two. She didn’t recognise him, and given his strange garb, it was likely he was from a far distant tribe. Izzy wrinkled her nose, she had heard tales of other Caith collaborating with invaders.

“I am Guildmistress Laera,” said the half-demon, looking them over with her pink eyes. “Are any of you able to speak on behalf of your… tribe?”

Izzy and the others said nothing, and regarded the half-demon with neutral expressions. Izzy was, as niece of the Chief, able to speak on behalf of her uncle, but she had no intention of letting them know they had a ‘valuable’ prisoner.

“Is that a no?” said the half-demon, looking around.

“We have nothing to say, invader,” said Izzy in careful ‘Valorian,’ the tongue of the invaders.

The half-demon sighed at looked at the lion-like healer. The blonde haired woman shifted uneasily before clearing her throat.

“Hi, I’m Charlie,” she said. “And we would like to stop what happened two days ago from happening again. We would like to find a way to make peace.”

Anger flared inside her at the lion-like woman's words. Peace? Peace?

“Peace? You murder my cousin,” said Izzy, unable to hold herself back. “You come here, take our lands, kill us when we hunt? And you want peace?”

“Your cousin? The man who was killed in the dispute over the goat?” asked the lion-like woman. Izzy frowned, not familiar with all the words. “In the fight?”

“Fight?’ He was hunting on our land — you murdered him.”

“Yes, he was, but ‘we’ didn’t do it — it was two men from this town, not myself nor Laera,” said ‘Charlie.’ “As soon as I found out about the fight, I went looking for him, but he was dead when I arrived. I’m sorry I was too late to save him.”

Izzy flicked her eyes over the woman as she carefully parsed the words. She didn’t seem to be lying, and she had saved her life, and the lives of many of her fellows.

“The Guildmistress is prepared to release you all,” said Charlie, gesturing to the demon. “As a show of good faith.”

There were surprised murmurs from the others, hope in their hushed tones as they relayed the message to those who didn’t speak the invader’s tongue at all. Release them? Just like that? They were up to something…

“You leave,” sneered Izzy, jabbing a finger of a manacled hand forward at the lion-like healer. “Go back home.”

“My home isn’t across the sea,” said Charlie. “I woke up in the dungeon.” She gestured to the other Caith. “Same with Nathan. ‘Outlander’ we’re called in this language. We’re from a whole other world, we don’t know how to get back.”

There were mutters from those who knew enough of the red-eye’s language to understand what ‘Outlander’ meant. It was pretty similar in their own tongue — Outsider. Legendary warriors of yore from beyond the heavens. Izzy’s own family was said to have been founded by one ‘Dunn-kann’ who had arrived in the very dungeon nearby, long before the Fall. She hadn’t heard of any Outsiders in the modern day, but this woman did not strike her as a liar…

Izzy looked at the Caith man. She suppose that explained why he was with them better than being from some other distant tribe. Well, Outsiders would not be turned away, even if they were strange and not Caith.

“Then you stay,” said Izzy. She jerked her head at Laera. “She and the others leave. We will not stop them, we will not attack again if they leave.”

Laera crossed her arms. “Even if I wanted to, the Guild would send someone to replace me,” she said. “They have invested too much in this venture to give up on it.”

“Not your problem. Good for you: you live, we will kill them instead,” said Izzy. “This is our land, demon. We will fight for it.”

The Guildmistress’ nostrils flared. “I am not a demon. I am half-dhampir.”

Izzy smirked, glad she had at least found a chink in the woman's armour.

“What about if we negotiated a treaty?” asked Charlie. “A deal: limits to how far the town could be built, a percentage of the revenue produced by the town to be paid to your tribe in exchange for using the land, and free access for your people?”

Izzy regarded the healer sceptically. “If that is true, then uou are welcome here, Outlander.” She gestured to the others. “But why should we trust them? They hunt us, destroy our sacred groves to make ‘farms,’ burn our camps.”

“We do not,” said Laera firmly. “The Guild has never taken part in Mercia’s attacks on you; in fact, as far as I am aware, until you attacked us, no Guild member had ever harmed a Caith. The man who died was not killed by our members, but rather an ex-slave who was trying to protect what meagre possession he’d been able to accrue. You used to trade with us, remember?”

Izzy glanced at her fellows. It was true that members of the tribe had traded sometimes with this town. They’d said they were treated with suspicion and hostility, but before her cousin none had been hurt.        

“It’s actually quite likely that Port Imperial is going to attack us at some point,” continued Laera. “Charlie… freed a bunch of slaves the last time she was there.”

Interesting. Invaders fighting one another? That was something that could be perhaps used.

“And- and… look, my only interest is in running the delving of this dungeon,” said Laera. “You weren’t even using it anyway!”

“And because we were ‘not using’ something in our home, that lets you to come in and take it?” said Izzy in an angry voice. “Perhaps we should cross the great ocean and do the same?”

“That- look, I don’t want to fight,” said Laera. “I’d much prefer to come to some arrangement than…” Laera took a deep breath, and raw grief flashed through her infernal pink eyes. “Than for anyone else to die,” she continued softly. “Surely, you can see that there are benefits to the dungeon being delved? In you collecting some percentage of the profit? In not losing anyone else we love?”

Izzy tapped her foot on the floor and considered. Could it be true that these invaders were different from the ones in ‘Port Imperial?’

She supposed it didn’t really matter. Even if this was some kind of trick, a short-lived truce, it might give them the space to focus on the larger town…

“I cannot speak for the Chief,” said Izzy eventually, holding up her shackles. “But if you release us, then I will take your words to him. Although I do not believe he or the Council will listen.”

“We were actually thinking that maybe Charlie and Nathan could go with you?” said Laera. “Assuming you’d guarantee their protection?”

Izzy shrugged. “The Outlanders may come, they will not be harmed. Although, I doubt their words will sway my uncle.”

A.N. This is released four chapters ahead on my Patreon, and updates Thursdays.

I also have a finished fantasy novel that can be read on Scribblehub, Shattered Moon, and an episodic space-fantasy/horror/doctor-who-esque series, Mishka the Great and Powerful, that updates every Saturday, and Marci of the Dreadfort that will be coming to Scribblehub soon!

I also have the eBook of my first novel available on Kobo, Amazon, and my Patreon!