Chapter Nine

Alder was properly introduced during the first few rounds and was surprised to find that the group had little knowledge of one another. Boulin and Dantes were new to Jeanns rotating cast of companions, instead it was Ulma who had shared bunk and blade with Jeann during an ambush gone wrong. Though her words came jumbled at times and pauses were often made to account for the translation, but he had found himself absorbed in the womans story. Her words felt genuine and her eyes glimmered with memory. 

With little time to spare the duo of Jeann & Alder changed to more “elegant” attire, ones that the Count would likely find passable, and boarded their waiting carriage. The Pere Hall stood proudly North end of the Mist Mile square, and as such had a nearly direct route to the Keep. The bumps and shakes of occasionally miss sized or place stone faded as they drew closer to the forboding peaks of Dominias Count. 

The gate was far more High Tsenian than Alder had expected, the wide black bordered by a design reminiscent of the Shrines along the road of Grace in the capital city. The Road of Grace used three large logs stacked to form a bridge and then carved with the dieties and spirits that were said to have roamed the world millennium ago. The shrine-like border bore no such engravings of Deities or Spirits, instead it was carved to show a number of battles being fought. Bloody skirmishes with corpses piling, stone skinned men, which surprised Alder. The detail in the work was such that the occasionally large “cracks” that the natives of the Mountains could bear. 

“So,” Alder said. He pulled at the cuffs of the doublet and tried to find a position that didnt feel utterly ridiculous. “Whats the intent tonight?”

“Hmmm.” Jeann placed a finger to her chin in contemplation “I don’t have much more to discuss with him so i’d imagine it might just be more for you benefit.”

“So as leader of this group, you have to come be my guardian?” 

“Well… No, not really, but the Chef in the Counts employ actually makes some decent food and I didn’t want to waste the opportunity.”

Alder sighed. That was Jeann, fight, food, train, drink. The woman was a monster with nearly any weapon he could think of, and he only knew that because of the tournament so many years back. If her skills had increased… well she was dangerous enough as it was. Sitting without her custom plate and accenting weapon, she looked like any normal person. Well, maybe not any normal person. She didn’t bear the salt-pocks of many that came from the western coast, but she did share their tanned skin and lighter hair. 

“So what are you going to do?” Alder asked. He had an idea, but it would be better to just let her say it.

“Who knows. Some of the soldiers I drank with last time might still be around on their shifts, maybe I can win back a little of my money.”

“She really was on a-”

Jeann cut him off “Yes I know. Still, it feels strange for Dantes to lose like that…” she trailed off, becoming lost in thought. 

The gates split at the efforts of two nearby gaurdsmen, and promptly closed after they passed the threshold. The path leading to the front doors were lit with flickering lamps and patrolled by no less than twelve guards in gambeson-chain and carrying spears. Oddly shaped trees or rocks dotted the large garden occupying the homes front yard. By pure chance Alder spotted a pair of patrolling soldiers approach one and knock a rythmn, moments later a door swung open and the two disappeared inside. 

“What are those?” Alder asked. He pointed to the nearest tree that matched the sizes he’d seen.

“Depending on whose in them, either a caster or an archer. Likely both, given Philistines increase in security.” Jeann said “They’re bunkers of a sort, part tower part shelter. Hidden poorly but well enough for most to ignore them.”

“Common to have so many?” 

“Not much about Philistine is common. Best you prepare for that.”

A kindly older man with sharp eyes and a rounded face welcomed the pair at the door, then bid them follow through the house and inevitably depositing them at the open doors of the Great Hall. The great hall was gorgeous and elaborately decorated. Statues of the three trusting gods, The Creator, The Life Giver, And the Reaper. The names weren’t exact, and changed by region, but the appearances remained the same. Windows of stained glass shone multicoloured lights through the massive chamber, bathing them in hughes typically only produced by casting or Alchemy. Several tables were laid and set, accompanying chairs, candles, and what not included. The head table contained five seats, and all were empty. The entire room was empty. 

“Odd.” Alder said. “Are we supposed to wait?”

“He has been late more than once. Usually in his study or the library.” 

“Didn’t he ask to meet with us?”

“Yes well, he is the Count. We are sadly not on our time, but instead we dance to his tune.”

“So sorry to make you wait.” A cool voice said. The words werent spoken with haste, though the sounds of panting indicated an exertion. 

“Ah, speak and they shall… anyway.” Jeann shook her head and crossed her arms. “You’re late, again.”

“Yes, yes. I’m well aware of the time Lady Jeann.” the man said. “And you must be Alder, its a pleasure. I am Count Philistine Domicorta.”

The Count was a taller man with nearly grey skin, long tsenian ears, and thin black hair falling to his shoulders. The point of his chin was covered with a light salt and pepper beard. He looked like a scholar who had forgone sleep for their work. His clothes were disheveled and his hair a mess.

“Yes, Alder of Mehonoris, Battlemage of Hilstella Academy, Lisenced Pere and Librarian.” Alder hated the Fomality that noble introductions required. It felt stinted and forced, like lines from a play that held no grasp on the age it was in. 

“Quite a set of Titles you’ve earned, impressive.” Philistine said. “You said Hilstella Academy?”

“Thats right.”

“A good Academy if ever there was one. Im actually surprised that Jeann did indeed know a Battlemage willing to take on this kind of a job.”

“Well, a few pieces of the story seemed too interesting to ignore. In addition, if I can help save the Lady Elizabeth I will.” Of course he would, it was his job. 

“That is reassuring to hear, these past few weeks have been… Difficult for me. Elizabeth barely speaks, hardly eats, and she has this strange feel about her. Like being near her is wrong, like it shouldnt exist.”

“Are you well Count?” Jeann asked

“Hm? What? Oh, yes. Just a few too many nights in the library. Old habits die hard.”

“Were you a scholar?” Alder asked. A somber smile set on the Counts face and he shook his head. 

“No sadly, my parents were killed before I could dedicate enough time to it. It had been my intention to pursue a life more dedicated to that art than this one, but we have so little control over fate.”

“If you’ll excuse me.” Jeann bowed to the Count “I believe that I should allow you and Alder to discuss more details about the issues at hand. Meanwhile, I believe i’ll steal my food from the kitchen and rob your men.”

The Count laughed at that.

“Yes I heard about your antics last time. More than one man complained of being cheated out of money by some monster of a woman. I should stop you from terrorizing them further.”

“Will you?”

“I hadn’t planned on it, no.” He said smiling “Does them some good to lose money now and then. Teaches responsibility right?”

“Of course.” Jeann gave a mischevious smile and nodded. “I’ll be in the barracks when you’re done Alder.”

“I believe we’ve a few matters to properly discuss. Please, I’d much prefer to work and eat. Would dinning in the study be acceptable?”

“Of course!” Alder said. “I’d be delighted to see what you’ve learned on the matter.”

“I doubt it will be of much help, but it will be good to compare ideas. Come, its in the western wing.”

The halls of the keep were lined with stone columns inlaid into the walls, and each bore the design of a different creature or person. Short and strong Dwa and Gno were aligned along the robust and bulging forms of the Re of the Desert or the slender grace of the Fle, will all mixture between filling gaps. Mighty creatures of legend, Dragons, seemed to cling to the stone for support as they slept in stone forms. Rearing horses with flowing manes and foxes chasing hares from their spots of security.

Each wall held a simple light flickering against the motion of the passersby, likely charmed kindling made to burn for great lengths of time. The floor was topped with long maroon rugs accented with golden trim and engraved with sigils of strange origin. As the study came into view Alder noted a number of intricately detailed murals of overlapping shapes and mosaics, lapping in on themselves but weaving through another. 

“The keep is incredible.” Alder muttered “I’ve not been in something like it before.”

“Ah, yes. These halls were made by Tsene-Dwa who wished to mimic the designs of their cousins nearby.” the Count said “The work was extensive, but the end result is something that even embessaries from the Peaks have appreciated.”

“You meet with the Ugupmupians?” 

“Of course, they’re our neighbors of a sort, and they provide a healthy supply of metals and quarry stone that the Kingdom desperately needs for the war. It would be a waste to ignore such possible cooperation, especially when they ask for so little in return.”

“Such as?” Alder asked. 

The count pushed through a thick wooden door and held it aside for Alder to pass, inside Alder found a chamber nearly the size of his entire Library building in Mehonoris. The walls of shelves where brimming with colourful tomes or stacks of scrolls. Binded works barely held by their original threads sat alongside newly inked copies of recent texts. Delicate tables with simple chairs dotted the openings not coveted for shelves or walking. 

“Use of this library on occasion.” He said. “Or free passage through the occasional toll route. They tend to take the main roads more often now, a simple writ of leniency from an Elder Council contributor and they’re left alone. Usually. But enough of political dalliances, i should show you what i’ve collected.”

Count Philistine led Alder to a table nearest a roaring fireplace and beset with nearly all manner of parchment or text the man had seemed to find. Piles of scrolls and tomes littered the surroundings, all of it kept at a far distance from the flames. 

“I believe i’m still confused as to your Daughter condition.”

“You would not be alone in that feeling, I’ve not found a single Arcanist or Scholar with any sort of an idea. Each one just blathered about curses or divine punishment.”

Alder raised an eyebrow.

“Divine punishment? That feels a bit odd.”

“I agree, specifically because we haven’t seen nor heard from one of the three since the fall of Hesta.” 

“But you don’t believe it was a curse? They do exist, from my research there have been a good number of cases mainly grouped in populated cities. Domina may not be Hilstella, but the population could harbor a few talented enough to do something like this.”

The count scoffed and waved a hand to dismiss the idea from even touching the air of thought.

“Hardly, those with talent work for the city or the kingdom, only the criminals in the outer lands or those brave enough in old town would hold any grudge. I doubt I have to worry about a commoner barging through the gates with hands alight.”

“I suppose…” Alder didn’t want to agree. In fact it felt strangely wrong, but he wasn’t going to argue with his soon-to-be employer. “So what have you found?”

“Well,” Philistine withdrew a crewd sketch of a beast on its hindlegs. It was twice the size of a troll from the description and was split horizontally by a gaping maw of razor teeth. A poorly depicted womans face with strands of unkempt hair spilled from where its head should be, and its limbs were strangely bent. They mirrored that of an insect Alder had seen once in a scroll, one that used its limbs like blades. “This is what one of the guardsmen on patrol that night described. It wasn’t the best description and some of the features conflicted.”

“What… is it?” 

The creature, if Alder could even label it as one, was beyond his wildest nightmares. It was hideous, dragging at the very depths of his heart and feeling to pull him down into despair. It was a drawing though… it shouldn’t have that effect. Nothing should, it wasn’t possible to effect emotion so passively. 

“I’m not sure, but whatever it is remains in my daughter. Shes bound in a set of Chains of Nadriel, even she appears normal.”

“So not a building tall?” The question was rhetorical, and said mostly without thought. Alder was engrossed in trying to ascertain what lay behind the pages capturing of the beast. 

“Thankfully no, but like I said before she still isn’t well.”

“When did this happen? When was she…” Alder tried to find a better word than ‘possessed’. It held such an odd and overused stigma behind. Every town crier called some mishap the result of a possession. “Changed.”

“Near a fortnight past. We had just returned from our journey to front at Viltrans behest. We were back nearly a day when she vanished. Next thing we knew there were reports of piles of bodies littering the outlands.”

“Why not assume it was bandits? Maybe a kidnapping?”

Philistine shook his head.

“No, my Daughter does far too much for the city and its occupants. Shes often in Old Town assisting in her shelters she’s established. Makeshift inns and what not, she likes helping the lesser in a more active way.”

“Thats wonderful, but very dangerous.”

“Not when nearly a company of men bearing my sigil accompany her.”

Alder sighed and pinched his brow in frustration.

“Okay, so not kidnapping. So what did you assume?”

“I had guessed she’d left in a rush for some appointment in another city. She’s recently graduated from Hilstella and has some connections now in the surrounding lesser-kingdoms.”

“No letter though?”

“Its a common habit of hers to leave in a hurry with a lack of foresight for the worries of the family.” Philistine sighed and took a chair. “But what can I do? She like her mother, and I never could control her.”

Alder glanced over the sketch, still feeling a cold chill on his spine while looking, then began to sift through the notes. They were of little importance. Off-hand rumours of something big killing in the woods. Guard reports of bodies recovered and burned. Small pieces of a larger, already completed puzzle. Except… except for one report from eighty years past. A case eerily similar.

“What about this?:

“1004, 24th of Ildradect: The creature that assaulted our city today was handled swiftly and with minimal loss. Old Town suffered major damages and casualties, but these were mostly of the outlying shacks and tents outside our Cities exterior walls. The gate along Old Town was destroyed, though Engineers inform me that the work should be easy to manage with proper Arcane assistance. 

The Creature stood at the height of the cities exterior wall, was made of an ever shifting miasma of black and was split by a vicious mouth of death. A mans head rested where one would assume on a normal person, but his eyes were dead. Looking at the creature felt… Wrong. It felt like the creature was ripped from a childs nightmare and given life.” - Scholar Edena Domicorta, Countess of Dominia 

Alder paused. Countess Edena?

“Was the Countess-”

“My mother, yes. I guess she and my father faced something like this before. I’m not sure if thats comforting or disheartening.” 

“I’d say a bit of both.” Alder folded the text and slipped it into a pocket in his trousers. “Whats important is that we have something, and sounds similar enough that we may be able to use it.”

“You seem excited about this.” Philistine Chuckled “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re enjoying this.”

“Mysteries and riddles.” Alder said. “Are the spice to a scholar's bland ingestion of facts and lore.”

“Father Bartanis?”

Alder nodded.

“One of the first tomes I purchased in the city.”

“Well, if ever there was one to pick.”

The sounds of doors creaking open shook the duo from their dedicated interest in the pages. A parade of attendants and chefs strode confidently to the tables and set down bowls of a rich savory soup and plate of steak and greens. Alders stomach grumbled with the desire to dig in.

“We’ve spent enough time tonight on this I should think. This sour a topic should wait for daylight, instead we should eat and speak further on other matters.”

Hours passed and the flickering flames of the hearth turned to smoldering stars of red and grey, eventually the Count bid Alder farewell and departed for his chambers. Alder retreated to the barracks where he was bewildered to see a fully clothed Jeann, still in finery, surrounded by barely clothed men at a table. She wasn’t playing cards this time, instead it was a game of dice rolling and number guessin. Apparently one the Coastal folks found entertaining. 

He collected her with little delay and had to calm the feelings of a few men begging her to stay, they had likely thought of a new way to cheat and were hoping to finally get Jeann to remove something. Instead they collected a small pouch of coins and Sen and climbed into their carriage to return to the Pere hall.