Thank the gods I’m not dead again
Was the first thing I thought upon opening my eyes and breathing a long sigh of relief.
I was in a large wooden plank lined room, the roof was triangular and supported by tree trunks. Next to where I laid was a long rectangular firepit with stone slates separating it from the wooden hard dirt flooring, along the edges of the room were many tables with bench seats and at both ends of the room were walls that went up to the ceiling with double doors.
Sitting up I blinked and noticed my shoulder that had a tree fall on it was numb and there was a white leaf of some kind dressing it.
“You awaken, that is good, we feast soon and it would be poor manners to store you in another room whilst we eat.” A man’s voice pulled my attention to the doorway behind me.
Standing there was…
An Elf?
Something in my mind told me that they were, like it was different from the Áes Sídhe in some way despite their clear similarities I knew intrinsically from my memories.
If Theodoric inspired a sense of royalty or regality, then this man's presence was that doubled.
He had caramel coloured skin, silvery-ash coloured hair that reached his shoulders with the bangs over his forehead pulled back around his head into a ponytail. His eyes were an ambery-brown not unlike Medea’s bronze, his face was strong resembling a marble statue with dark grey stubble on his chin. He stood about as tall as Theodoric had and had a more natural looking strong body dressed in a sleeveless linen v-neck tunic and shorts with no footwear.
His ears were pointed as well of course, coming out about half a foot from his head through his hair.
The man approached me as I sat up properly and offered a hand, accepting it. I was surprised by the strength he showed when he all but pulled me to my feet on his own.
“I am Marduk of the Ahkula.” Immediately introducing myself I lowered my head to the man and he responded in kind.
“Caturix, king of the Ætheling and ruler of Bailey, you are free to call me as you wish- in here we are equals, no titles.” He gestured to the rest of the room.
“What happened to me and my friend who was hurt?” I asked and he walked past me motioning me to follow him.
Doing so I listened to him talk.
“My Æsc guard found you in the forest fighting the Spriggans, they thought you were an invader of sorts who had broken through the barrier that keeps unwanted visitors and attackers from finding a path in the woods- that brand on your chest confused them and they thought you an Exile.”
“Oh okay that makes sense.” My response was somewhat daft but there wasn’t really much else to say.
Caturix opened the set of double doors that were opposite the ones he’d appeared from and I ducked under the frame as we went out-
“Woah…” My impressed tone made the man in front of me chuckle.
We looked out from a hill on an unground city of homes resembling those really old celtic roundhouses and scandinavian longhouses like the one we’d just exited, the ceiling of the cavern was an inexhaustible distance above us with a strange gentle blub of soft orange light. The city itself was enormous, easily four twice if not thrice the size of Logos with clear distinctions between six relatively small areas at the back of the city with everything else being split more naturally throughout.
Above it were hundreds of winged peoples, much like the ruler of Zaros was, flying over. The colour of the city despite being underground was gorgeously vibrant and otherworldly with many buildings half consumed by giant flowering plants and other fauna.
I never would have comprehended a place like this before, but it was beautiful.
When I finished gawking I turned back to the King and he had a warm smile on his face, he also had two guardsmen next to him now. They were dark grey skinned, had stark white and ivory eyes respectively with jet black hair down their shoulders. The guards wore olive green tunics that reached their knees with cloth belts around their waists, leather sandals and wielded tall wooden polearms with a bluish black bearded axe head attached to it.
I’d never seen metal like it before.
“We are safer to speak here on the balcony than inside, the brownies and goblins are fraught with the need to eavesdrop- to which I imagine you aren’t interested in becoming the latest ire of the city?” I nodded in agreement at what he said before he finally answered the other part of my question.
“Your friend was injured quite severely by a Barghest so I have placed him in the care of La Pucelle, however I can assign someone to help you there to see his recovery for yourself?” To his offer I nodded my head.
“I would like that, yeah.”
Caturix hummed thoughtfully. “You really are quite good at our language, where did you learn it?” He asked genuine curiosity on his face, same for his guards who’d been otherwise stoic until this point.
OH shit I forgot about that, I barely even recognised when Theodoric had been speaking it when he saved us.
My thoughts ran for a means to explain it but he came to a conclusion on his own.
“Ah actually I forget a key detail before me, you are god-kin yes? Your eyes tell all, in this case.” taking the simplest answer for what it was I agreed.
“So I understand helping me because I was being attacked, but… why am I speaking with a King? It feels a bit weird that soldiers find our fight with the Spriggans you called them? And then I wake up in the King's house?”
Wait didn’t Adalgard say she was half Spriggan? Shit… how the hell does that work? Does that mean she could have become twenty feet tall as well?
My speculation was interrupted by the King's answer.
He nodded sagely “I can understand your point, however this was a matter of importance to see that you were kept secret from the populace. The Spriggans are our defence against invaders and for an incident like this to happen and get out would put their integrity into question and sow dissent amongst those who already find issue with our growing society as its problems spiral.”
“Just as no wall is truly impenetrable, no man is truly infallible. Which is to say, we are only as strong as the illusions we present and when that is threatened by instances such as this- you can imagine the repercussions?” The ruler of Bailey looked at me with a warm expression as parted the wisdom to me.
“I understand Caturix, I’ll keep quiet about it.”
His words stuck with me though, something about the way he phrased it felt like a man who’d lived a lot longer and more philosophically than me.
“That’s wonderful, now I should think you are as hungry as I am with a body like that? The food should be ready here soon and I would be grateful to host a man capable of your abilities, as well as a representative of the Ahkula.” He gestured back toward the building before he moved past me and through the door.
I followed after him a moment later when I finally took my eyes off the city.
The inside of the building had been completely changed into a dining hall around the firepit which now had a large boar and cow like the one I had seen in the fields around Lakar cooking over it. There were also a plethora of guests chatting away and laughing with one another as we entered, they all stopped briefly to greet Caturix before returning to what they were doing.
I found myself transfixed with the distinct appearances of the people, there were about five or so men and women like the King himself. As for the rest it was a mix of men and women who ranged from blazing red skin with fiery orange hair, blue hair that I was pretty sure was actually water and skin of similar colour, dark green hair atop dark skin that resembled earth, pearly white skinned individuals with bright butterfly wings on their backs and lastly a couple dark grey skinned people with black hair.
They were all clearly Áes Sídhe, pointed ears and all. Each colour type? That feels a bit messed up to categorise them as, but it's the clearest I can put it- had different body types in very noticeable ways. The winged people were lithe and small, the blue people were plump and well fed, the red people were lean and fast looking, the green haired people were stocky and reminded me of the way the Spriggans had looked before they transformed.
The Æsc of two kinds, thin or well built. As for the king's people they were the most diverse sharing characteristics of each kind.
I really hoped someone would give me their names soon so I didn’t have to keep calling them by their skin shade.
In amongst everyone I noticed small reddish-green skinned beings with smooth skin and comparably delicate looking bodies, they kind of made me think of goblins until I realised Caturix had literally said there were goblins. They dressed in oversized tan tunics with bright blue markings on in the middle denoting what their job was.
One approached me and I got a sense for how short it really was, the goblin barely reached my knee as it stared up at me in amazement before speaking-
A young girl's voice came from it, surprising me. “Lord Master has told us you are a dignitary from a foreign tribe and I am to be your maid for the time being.”
She did a somewhat adorable looking curtsy with a smile as she continued to crane her neck just to look up at me. I actually felt really bad for her- or I assumed they were a she considering the voice, but the goblins all had a similar quality I’d failed to really see so far where I couldn’t distinguish them very well from one another.
“Okay, thank you.” Was all I replied with and she nodded her head before proceeding to hover around just behind me ready to act upon whatever request I had.
For whatever reason I had this idea of grotesque monsters that fed on people, violated whatever women they could get ahold of and sought the destruction of all who weren’t them in my mind when I tried to think on any information regarding Goblins I might remember, but it was all the same.
My new attendant seemed kind of cute and gentle, far nicer than the image I came to anyway. It was the same for all of the goblins I saw around the room though they all had a somewhat cute and softness to them as they happily obliged the many people as food started to be dished out to everyone.
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Almost three hours passed before the so-called feast started to come to an end, thankfully in that time I did actually get to learn about the Áes Sídhe who were here.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Aside from the Æsc and Ætheling, there were the Wynden, fȳr, erwô and wódr̥.
I didn't understand what the names meant yet but the Wynden were the small pall winged Áes Sídhe.
The fȳr were those red skinned and flaming haired Áes Sídhe.
The erwô were the bark skinned Áes Sídhe with green hair.
Lastly the blue skinned and water haired Áes Sídhe were the wódr̥.
I’d spent most of my time out of the way from conversation enjoying the especially well made food that easily outshined anything I’d had so far, I wasn’t sure why but some part of me thought that they wouldn’t eat meat, but if anything the Áes Sídhe were more than happy to eat it.
Now that some of the guests that had come were slowly leaving I found myself a part of the main conversation as the King invited me over to join in as he, his wife and the other leaders of the other five clans were discussing something fairly mundane.
“Our boy is getting quite tenacious and bold, it’s becoming harder and harder to reasonably discipline him.” Adbugissa, the Lady of the fȳr, complained with a sigh.
She was darker toned than her husband having skin that looked like volcanic rock floating on lava with the brightly coloured veins shining through her skin, her hair as well was long and nearly dripping with a vibrant fiery orange appearance. Her eyes were pools of black with white dots in the middle as her pupils.
“It's the same with our gaggle, they are to start their training soon, hopefully that will reign them in some like it did for our wandering Auguste.” Elantia, the Lady of the Æsc, replied.
The two women were amongst the most friendly I’d seen throughout the night, clearly good friends.
Auguste? That's not really a common name as far as I can tell… did I meet her son?
The thought made me double take her appearance but nothing seemed off about it. She was like the other Æsc, her skin was an almost lavender tinted grey, she had fluffy black hair, large cream white coloured eyes on black sclera and her purple veins were lightly glowing through her skin.
She was attractive too but that wasn’t what I was looking for here.
Hmm… its not like her husband was any different, he has browner eyes but thats it…
It was at this point my contemplation was interrupted and I was pulled into things by the King.
“Now that we are a more intimate group I would like to introduce you all to my guest properly, take it away-” Like he said he’d already introduced me during the dinner but I’d stayed so reserved no one bothered to speak with me.
“I- uh- hello I am Marduk of Ahkula, a Saurian from the Duranki crater.” Since he’d somewhat forcefully pulled me into the conversation the two women who had been talking about their children didn’t look very happy with me, but everyone else was fairly accommodating as they took turns to introduce themselves to me formally.
Of course they’d also all been really surprised by me speaking their language, but quickly settled into a rhythm of normalcy which honestly made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. I never was any good at the whole meeting new people thing-
It made teaching hard, but that’s why I taught kids and not teens.
Sigh… I almost miss teaching, but this has been more fun… guess I’ll have to admit to her that she was right and going on an adventure is a lot more fun than sitting around marking homework.
Anyway,
I was speaking with Caturix, Samorix, Urus and Arleno, the four men were asking me about my arm and the story behind it. They were each the leaders of their clans within the city itself having been elected their people to do so.
Samorix was one of the Wynden, he like his wife was pale like porcelain with turquoise eyes and muddy grey hair and a vaguely effeminate look about him, his wings were a similar colour to his eyes with black accents on them.
Arleno was an erwô, he was a tall burly and like I said before about them, his tan coloured skin was textured like bark as though they were scales. He had short leafy green hair and eyes the same colour.
Lastly Ursus was another Ætheling, he had caramel coloured skin, short bright silver hair, brown eyes and was shorter than his King.
They all seemed fairly impressed with the story of Medea and me taking on the cockatrice, though apparently none of them except for the guardsmen waiting by the doors had heard of one before so I had to explain what it was.
It wasn’t much longer after this that the leaders left so that it was just Caturix and his wife Blanda, who far as I could tell was an Æsc.
“If you would like, I will hold up my bargain from earlier?” The man said and I just nodded.
I was honestly pretty exhausted from the whole feast thing, but I didn’t want to forget about Lappe.
As well it would give me some time with my thoughts.
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I wasn’t sure what I was expecting before I laid eyes on La Pucelle but an Arachne wasn’t it.
She was enormous.
La Pucelle or Azra was, like I said, an Arachne, she was the scorpion kind with a large chiton body beneath her from her waist down. Her scorpion half was easily as large as a sedan, sleek black and had a massive pair of pincers with her tail arcing over her with the stinger dangling in a way that made me uncomfortable.
As for her human half, she was a dark bronze skinned woman with shiny long black hair and light brown eyes. She had a full figure and wore a red dress over her torso with nothing covering her scorpion form.
“You are rather taken with my posterior aren’t you lizard? Is it something so fascinating or are you yearning for something else?” Azra’s voice was mature and deep eliciting something of an inviting feeling in my chest.
“J-just keeping my d-distance” I stuttered out causing the woman to chortle, raising hand to her mouth.
“My-my, I suppose my people would inspire such feelings in those unfamiliar. Quite the curiosity when your friend was so easily accepting of my nature, perhaps he is a fool that does not see danger?” She seemed to ask herself with a hand on her chin.
Her words bounced around my mind for a moment as the image of Lappe screaming and crying in terror and horror as the Barghest latched onto him and thrashed around filled my mind.
No… he definitely knows what danger is… maybe it was that same thing that had him happily joining me?
“S-so where is he?” I asked the giant woman and she motioned with her pincers to the next room.
Which happened to be past her.
My obvious apprehension clearly showed and the woman found it funny before moving out of the way for me to get past and see my friend. Since she was so large the building we were in was massive, triple if not quadruple the size of the king's dining hall with curtains over doorways instead of actual doors since they would have to be much bigger to accommodate the Arachne.
Which was to say the infirmary that Lappe was in was easily as big as the dining hall on its own, there were many hospital-like beds set up with curtains around them and a big window at the end of the room that looked out into the city.
Lappe was the only person in the room though so none of the curtains were drawn and he laid on the bed closest to the window in nothing but wraps around his destroyed leg, chest, right arm and a pair of calf length trousers.
He looked very tired and pale, not enough that he didn’t immediately brighten at my presence.
“Marduk!” He happily cheered my name as I approached and took a stool that was beside the bed.
“Are you alright?” I asked and he grunted something under his breath as he sat up.
“In time…” His reply trailed off. “So we made it to Bailey?”
I nodded my head.
“That’s great huh? How? Last thing I remembered we were attacked by those…” A terrified look sparked in his eyes and I understood what he meant.
“Some of the Æsc Guard found us and allowed us into the forest so they could treat you here.” He didn’t catch the lie and simply breathed a sigh of relief.
A brief silence settled as he turned his gaze outside and I did as well.
I couldn’t escape the sounds that he made when we were attacked, they had started to haunt me like a ghost even though the man was alive and right in front of me.
“Heard you talking to Azra.” He said, changing the topic as he looked at me with a smirk. “Said you kept checking her out huh? Got a thing for big gals?” he asked with a laugh that turned to a short cough.
“I-its not like that- they- she- Arachne scare me.” I admitted in a stutter causing the man to laugh further.
“The giant lizardfolk saviour of Zaros is scared of Arachne?” The grey haired man's words were in disbelief.
I didn’t say anything not wanting to give him more ammo, arachnophobia which I suppose went two ways now was a completely reasonable fear that I wasn’t about to let him gaslight me about.
We continued to talk about more menial things for a while before I found myself feeling tired and Lappe himself was informed that he needed more rest to recover. So I left and greeted the guards who’d been assigned to me with the status as a delegation from Duranki to excuse my presence in the city and forgo explaining how I ended up here.