The battle for Negite came to an end by the time the city fell into the cloudy night’s embrace.
The toils of its citizens did not end with the sunset, however, for there were still two tasks of great importance they needed to see to: first, gather their dead and give them a proper funeral and second, prepare for a celebration the likes of which Negite had not seen perhaps since its creation. After all, none of the previous celebrations in it had taken place when the city was a wreck and none were in commemoration of an event as grand as the present one – its liberation.
Out of the members of the quartet chiefly responsible for the victory won on this day, two were responsible for overseeing one of the tasks and two –the other. Respectively, Elgo and Osinth presided over the funeral process and Tiar and Bara – over the preparations for the feast, each pair’s experience being rather eventful, but the herkleri duo were the first of the four to stumble upon shocking discoveries. And these discoveries began while the prince and his guardian were having one of their typical arguments.
‘My prince, there is no need for you to engage in this peasant work yourself. I’ve said it before and –‘
‘I know you have, Os. I’ve been listening to it for some 300 years now. You’re probably hoping I’ll grow wiser one day and focus more on the typical activities for a herkleri planetary leader, but considering my upbringing, you can’t really blame me for doing this. It’s all I’ve ever known – hard work. And you should know better than most that will make me into an even better leader.’
A little bit surprised at first, the old-crown herkleri smiled after that while looking at his prince instead of the dead almeya he was carrying – this one being a young woman who was missing an arm and a part of her face – to one of the pyres constructed outside Negite.
‘I never meant to say I’m not even more proud of you for doing this than I am for all other things that you are, Elgo. My main concern has always been and always will be preserving your health. One needs to be in good health to have a long rule. We herkleri tend to live up to half a millennium, it is true, and you’ll have quite a few more years added to that span due to the age seal you still have on you, but nonetheless … half of your life has just about passed now. And it has been a life of misery and suffering no child should have to endure.’
‘And yet it is one every child in Yut knows today.’
‘That is sadly true. But none of those children has remained a child for 300 years and none of them has the same duty as you, making it all the worse for you. My purpose is to help ease that burden as much as I can and I just wish you would let me do my duty without having to deal with your stubbornness for a change. Do you see a miracle like this occurring any time soon?’
Elgo returned his most trusted friend’s smile then.
‘We’ve promised to never lie to each other long ago, Os, so I won’t lie to you now. Hoping for such things is pointless since they will never come to pass.’
As the two were about to start laughing, the screams of a madman drew their attention along with that of many of the herkleri and almeyas around, the two species’ response to this being very different, however. The blurple-skinned ones were most confused by those screams, the pink-skinned ones only sighing with annoyance. And Elgo was the first to address this difference in reaction upon turning to the living almeyas closest to him.
‘Do you know what that is?’
‘We do, prince. All of us who live in Negite know those screams all too well. We also know what their source and the cause for them are.’
‘It is our city’s master – Ril Smoldertongue. Since you’re the one in command of us here, you best prepare yourself, as his questioning’s target this time around will be you.’
‘Questioning? What for?’
‘The whereabouts of the most precious thing in his life.’
Soon enough Ril Smoldertongue was not just heard but seen by Elgo and Osinth, Negite’s master being taller than the standard for his race and more muscular as well, his hair being cut much shorter than any other almeya’s, his thick medium-length beard making up for the lack of other hair on his head. The man’s clothing was different from the rags he had worn during his planned execution earlier, his partial armor being of a pale blue color that matched the one of his unnaturally wide open eyes. Apart from the armor his attire consisted of a dark blue tunic and trousers, a pale blue belt and magenta boots. There was more magenta on him, specifically in the form of seven circular gems attached to the gold cross sewn on his tunic, making Ril stand out a great deal amid all the other members of his race around.
He finally got to Elgo, reaching to grab the boy so fiercely, even Osinth was barely able to hold him back, needing to keep a tight grip on the middle-aged almeya to ensure he wouldn’t escape him. Ril’s eyes did not see the old-crown herkleri at all, however, staring solely at the prince as he stopped screaming and started speaking, his speech still being a tad difficult to understand due to how much his voice shook.
‘I need to check the corpses! All of them!! Right now!!!’
‘Unless you calm yourself first, man, you will not be allowed to check anything. Stop for a moment and let yourself breathe so you don’t faint.’
When Osinth noticed his words had translated to the mad-seeming master who now slowed his breathing down and returned the size of his eyes to the regular one for his people, he engaged in conversation with him again.
‘Good. Now, tell us what it is you seek. The way your people tell it, it must be something of grave importance, so whatever we can do to help you find it, we will.’
‘It’s a wolf! I’m looking for a wolf! My wolf!!’
Elgo and Osinth couldn’t help but share a perplexed look at this point, continuing to speak with Ril only after taking a few seconds to come to terms with the subject of his search.
‘I am sorry to say that we have not come across any animal corpses as of yet, nor do I think anyone else here has. Does this wolf have any particular traits we are to search for?’
‘She’s much bigger than your average wolf. Enough for someone of my size to ride her. Her fur is as white as snow. And her eyes are dark purple.’
The prince and his guardian looked at the other again, but neither of them was perplexed anymore. Instead they had become quite curious.
‘White fur and dark purple eyes, you say? This wolf of yours wouldn’t happen to be a lavatongue, would it?’
‘She is! How does that matter now?!’
‘I wasn’t aware there were any lavatongues this far south on Almeya.’
‘My Kaya is the only one down here, which makes her all the more special! When I was imprisoned a couple of days ago, I was certain they had taken her captive as well, but despite searching as persistently as possible ever since the battle ended, I have not been able to find her! If she … if she were alive … she surely would’ve traced my smell and found me by now. I have no doubt of it. So I thought …’ – the man choked on his tears, falling to his knees with a face that showed only sorrow with no bounds. ‘… I thought the only explanation is she’s dead. If she is, I will have one last look at her. I will embrace her one more time and build a most magnificent tomb for her to rest in. I’ll be damned if Kaya is burned along with the rest of the dead!’
‘Do not be too quick to come to despair, Master Smoldertongue. Your pet may still live. Perhaps she is yet a prisoner but somewhere else. Did you hear anything of her whereabouts after your imprisonment?’
Osinth helped Ril up, the almeya wiping his tears off while attempting to regain his composure with all the will left in his being as he looked at Elgo again, now seeming to be in deep thought.
‘I heard nothing, but I suppose it stands to reason they wouldn’t have kept her in the same prison as me. If they had, keeping the two of us separate would’ve been impossible. Surely they haven’t killed her as well. With the numbers of lavatongues dwindling more and more, Kaya is a most precious specimen. Maybe they’ve taken her to some Chaos champion to try and corrupt her. If they could bend her to their will, a lavatongue as mighty as her could be used to terrible ends.’
The guardian turned to his prince then, the seriousness of his expression making it even more apparent that this wolf situation was of a greater scale than the two of them had imagined.
‘We’re out of our depth in this, my prince. We should take the matter to Arit. Perhaps he could offer some insight with the knowledge of servants of Chaos in Yut he has.’
‘Arit? The one with the cross-sword? Yes! Let’s go to him at once!’
Elgo wasn’t looking at either Osinth or Ril when the former made his suggestion and the latter supported it. He was staring at the darkness of the horizon, upon noticing the direction of his gaze both the old-crown and the master of Negite registering the sound of something drawing closer. Some of it sounded like the hooves of horses, some of it – like something else. Whatever it was, the cause for it needed to be investigated at once, Ril leading on the other almeyas around before Elgo or Osinth could rally the herkleri to them.
‘Harpies wouldn’t be riding horses, but they could’ve sent some other creatures of terror to torment us for liberating Negite! Come, men! Take up your arms, but keep a cool head during the coming battle!!! Among these villains there may be at least one that knows what’s happened to my Kaya! Do not be too quick to kill any of them! Not until we’ve forced them to tell us what they know!!’
The blurple-skinned ones followed the pink-skinned ones in the darkness, all of them trying to steel themselves as much as they could to face whatever was going to come out of it. Only what was revealed by the light of their torches when it drew close enough were more almeyas. All of them wore only rags, some being on horseback, some – on foot and one among their ranks was riding a giant wolf with snow white fur and dark purple eyes, for all intents and purposes that lavatongue being the one Ril was looking for.
A moment after he had laid eyes on it, the joy on the middle-aged almeya’s face turned to a fury the likes of which Elgo and Osinth had never seen, that fury being directed toward the animal’s rider. Master Smoldertongue leapt at the young woman astride the wolf who didn’t look to be much older than Bara, pushing her on the ground and starting to choke her, roaring all the while as she struggled.
Some of the almeyas on horses dismounted to go and stop him, the ones already on the ground doing the same, but the strength of none of them was sufficient to prevail over Ril. Only when the old-crown herkleri intervened was the ruler of Negite separated from his victim and moved some distance away from her, Elgo kneeling by her side to check on her condition. After a rough cough that lasted some time, the young woman managed to stand to her feet again, going over to Kaya to pet the wolf while smirking at Master Smoldertongue who even Osinth was barely able to restrain in that moment.
‘I will punish you for this, child, be sure of it!!! BY GOD, I WILL BE AVENGED!!!’
‘Not the welcome I was expecting. And I don’t see what you’re mad about. I’m only exercising my right riding Kaya.’
‘So this is indeed Master Smoldertongue’s wolf? Who might you be, then, to claim you have the right to ride it?’
‘Urilin Wolfborn, the daughter of that madman you’re holding, herkleri. In his absence, the position of rider for Kaya passes on to me.’
‘Only in the event of my confirmed death are you to ride her!!! Do I look dead to you, Urilin?!?!!’
‘I had no idea what happened to you after I and my men were moved to another prison. Then when word reached our new prison of the battle taking place in Negite, I figured if you’re not dead, you may at least be unconscious by the time I arrive and thus would not mind my riding of Kaya.’
‘Well, clearly you were mistaken! And why the hell did they imprison Kaya with you?! How did you even escape?!’
Urilin sighed, clearly being annoyed by her father now, Elgo, Osinth and the herkleri being puzzled by the dynamic between the two while the other almeyas didn’t seem to be fazed much by it. Most likely scenes like this were quite common between Negite’s master and his child and all who knew them had grown too accustomed to seeing them fight.
‘Ever the ungrateful one, aren’t you, old man?’
‘What should I be grateful for?! You didn’t contribute to our victory here in any way, nor did you make an attempt to save your father from an execution you were certainly aware of and the first thing I see you do when we’re reunited is ride Kaya!!! Were you not my blood, I would’ve had you whipped for a whole day for your crimes!!!’
‘All our escape attempts were thwarted until news came of the battle in Negite. Reinforcements from our prison were sent here then and with security having become more lapse, we were finally able to fight our way out and escape. So I may not have saved you directly, father, but I and my men finished off any harpies that could’ve offered support to the ones already here. That’s why I was expecting some gratitude from you, if not joy for seeing your daughter is alive and well after the recent traumatic events.’
A wave of calm seemed to wash over Ril’s face after his daughter’s explanation, while not looking happy, at least he was no longer furious. Osinth loosened his grip on Negite’s master a bit when he was assured he had regained his composure.
‘My apologies, Urilin, my sweet child. You are right, of course. I owe you gratitude, just like anyone else in this city does for what you did. And while it warms my heart that you made it back here safely so I could hold my daughter again …’ – Ril broke free of Osinth’s grip then, jumping at his daughter again with the façade of tranquility on his face giving way to his anger that had actually not subdued one bit – ‘… NONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED EXCUSES YOU RIDING KAYA!!! YOU MUST STILL BE PUNISHED FOR THAT TRANSGRESSION WITHOUT DELAY OR REMORSE!!!!’
Some of the almeyas aided Osinth this time around, managing to stop Ril from reaching his daughter once again, her confidence not wavering one bit in the face of her father’s wrath as she climbed on Kaya’s back again, signaling the wolf to move forward.
‘My father is clearly not himself right now. I’ll take command of the almeyas here until he can be of some use to us again as clearly there is much to do around here.’
‘We have already distributed the tasks that need seeing to among us here, but all of you are more than welcome to help us after …’
‘You … you’re that herkleri prince leading the rebels, right?’
While bothered by the young almeya’s lack of respect for him made evident by her interruption, Elgo said nothing of it and gave Osinth a sign to stand down and not go into a frenzy like Ril had just done. Managing to keep his temper under control, the prince only responded to the question with an affirmative nod.
‘Pleasure to meet you. Take your guardian and come with me. We need to find that Order champion Arit and his apprentice and convene a council right away.’
‘Why?’
‘We rode here with all haste not just to see what the state of Negite and its citizens is, but because we learned of the enemy’s plans for the New South before we escaped from the prison. And we must share those plans with you immediately so that we may think of a way to thwart them. Otherwise, the city’s age of freedom will be all too brief.’
