Weeks of a long journey to the east left them ragged and tired. Kiran decided that his days of traveling would have to be stalled for some time once they arrived at Valak so that he could recuperate appropriately.
Sadly, things were still a bit awkward between him and Lar. She wasn’t as angry or upset with him as before, but it would be a lie to suggest things were great between them.
One of them would need to approach the other to try to resolve the tension once and for all. He had tried on numerous occasions only to pull back at the last second. Now that they were arriving in Valak, he could find the time for them to resolve things without fear of running into immediate danger.
They neared Valak step by step. Unlike the previous time they visited this place, things weren’t entirely the same. Lots of tents were put up right outside it with lots of lumbering about people. The front gate was closed and he wondered why there were people in tents right outside the city.
Wait, these aren’t people.
He had just assumed it was people given their general silhouettes from far away. But the nearer they reached the city, the more clear it was banespawn gathered outside the gates.
Their group all began covering up their faces with the hoods from their cloaks as they began to walk past the tents and camps filled with banespawn. What are they doing here? So far they didn’t appear eager to attack them thankfully. They were supposed to have a treaty of some sort with Lucias so he didn’t feel in danger. It still put him on edge though having to walk past them.
The last few run-ins he had with Banespawn hadn’t gone so well. He hoped this one would change that.
“I don’t like the way they’re staring at us,” Lar said.
They walked by several lizards like Banespawn who began to smirk towards them. “Neither do I,” Kiran replied taking note of their worrisome expressions.
They neared the front gate to the city. The guards atop the walls looked down at them possibly wondering who they were. He pulled back the hood obscuring his head and waved at them. Thankfully they recognized him for as soon as the guards pulled back and began signaling to others, the gate began to open just enough to let them in. They had to get their hands dirty a little to crawl through the opening, but he understood full well that it would be unwise to open it completely given the mass of banespawn standing right outside.
Whilst finally inside, he felt immense relief for the first time in a while. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of safety. Although maybe it was a false sense of safety given what existed right outside Valak’s front gate. He still wasn’t going to let that bring him down. He had every right to want to relieve the tension that had been pushing down on his shoulders for a while.
While he felt some relief, the people inside didn’t appear quite at ease. More soldiers were stationed near the gate as well which found itself fully closed now that they were all inside.
“My, the atmosphere is quite dire here,” Yorais muttered.
“With those things outside the city, I couldn’t imagine why,” Lar said.
A stout man approached them with their helmet in his hand. “We’re glad you all made it back intact. Lucias will be eager for you to greet him first thing. Although if I may, I don’t seem to recognize this one person with you.” He eyed Aphelia who shuffled her feet a little.
“Oh her?” Yorais said. “She’s a friend of ours and someone who Lucias will certainly be interested in.”
“I see. Well, the rest of you are permitted to wander through the city and meet with Lucias, but as for her, I cannot permit her to go with you until Lucias says otherwise.”
He eyed Aphelia who appeared understanding. “It’s fine,” she said. “ I can stay with them or go wherever it is that they want me to be.”
“We’ll come back for you soon,” he said and nodded towards the guard who appeared more than willing to treat her right.
“Now then,” Yorais stated, “let us go meet with Lucias. I imagine he will be eager to hear of our recent discoveries.”
They went up the continuously inclining streets. By the time his feet were ready to give up, they reached the highest elevated areas of the city at long last.
They reached the front of the keep with guards standing outside of it. They let them pass and go inside.
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Surprisingly, they had not been the only ones waiting on the inside. An assortment of men, women, and familiars in their animal forms gathered inside as someone spoke before Lucias who sat cross-legged on their throne.
They walked along the red carpet that ran along the throne room. The closer they got to Lucias, the more capable he was of understanding what a crow-like familiar was saying before Lucias.
“We ought not to tolerate them any further, your grace. What they are doing is unconscionable. Such an action—”
Lucias lifted up his hand. “I have already agreed to speak with them. They’re clearly upset and I’d rather we resolve this matter amicably lest there be blood spilled needlessly. Worry not Hambry. They are out there and we are safely within here. Even if they were to attack us, our walls will keep us protected.”
“Our walls,” Hambry said with a flap of his wings, “are not infallible. The banespawn must go at once or be dealt with by other means.”
“I have taken your words and several others into consideration.” Lucias eyed them as they stopped behind a group of people. Kiran spotted Rinas and several others within the coalition including Silvy, Frederek, and Zorge gathered inside. “Now then,” he declared loudly, “let us concede with today’s talks and continue them tomorrow.”
The crow along with a slew of other crows began to fly out of the keep along with several other noble-like folks walking away as well who he wasn’t sure whether they were familiars or not whilst they were in their human form.
“Kiran,” Lucias said as it was just them and the coalition left inside. “I’m glad you’ve finally made it back.”
“As am I,” he said, “I’m afraid I’m quite tired after my travels and I imagine they are too,” he said while gesturing towards Yorais and Lar. He clasped his hands behind his back and stood there before Lucias who began to smirk.
“I imagine so. But now that you have returned, I am quite eager to hear of whatever developments you may have uncovered.”
While he wanted nothing more than to say good things to him, he had no choice but to reveal the bad as well. As he informed Lucias of their journey and all of their discoveries, his face began to shift. It grew cold and strangely plain, unlike his usual confident self.
“Everyone knows by now, that my relationship with Lady Meredith is far from ideal. I have tried for years to negotiate and lead an amicable relationship with her and her people. Nonetheless, even in these dark times, she has never been willing to cooperate with us to get to the bottom of things. Now I can see why.” He clasped his hands into his lap looking over to Yorais. “Are you certain that her daughter is the source of this darkness?”
“Her daughter is the most likely catalyst,” Yorais stated firmly. “Her body is completely compromised. That altar is the only thing keeping her from dying. But in order to keep a damaged body such as hers alive, it requires an extraordinary amount of power and by having a connection to the arcane roots burrowed deep beneath the ground, I believe that if she is removed from that altar, these problems will be solved. The interference between the altar and the distorted reality should unlink by my estimation.”
“We must be certain.”
“I won’t lie to you,” Yorais replied. “There’s a possibility that removing her daughter from the altar might not be sufficient enough to solve everything. Whatever havoc it has wrought upon this domain could end up being unfixable. There’s also the reality that when she’s removed, she will die. We must live with that fact or live with ourselves knowing we did nothing at all to keep someone who is practically dead already while condemning everyone here to these intolerable circumstances at the same time. Given what we know, there’s a strong chance at least to deliver us from this darkness. We cannot afford to not take action.”
Kiran found himself in agreement even though he didn’t wish to bring harm to Alanora. He just couldn’t find it in himself to sacrifice everyone within this domain if it meant keeping her from dying. There was also the clear reality that she could barely be considered alive in the first place.
Lucias leaned forward. “Then we must figure out a way to handle this situation in an appropriate manner. This will be quite troublesome however now that she is aware of our desires since she caught you in the cave. I must begin to make preparations and plans to mobilize my own forces.”
Kiran certainly didn’t feel envious to be in his position. In many ways, he preferred to live the life of someone who didn’t hold all that much prestige or power at least in regards to authority.
“Well, I imagine you all are quite tired after your journey to return here. I won’t drag this along any further than necessary. We’ll talk and figure things out in the coming days as I try to resolve a more immediate issue right outside my city.” He stood up making it clear, that their deliberations would conclude for now.
Rinas along with the others in the coalition approached him. “Good job with uncovering these things. It sounds like we might just be able to make this domain more tolerable in the future.”
“I sure hope so,” Kiran said. Unlike the eagerness of the rest of the coalition glad to see him and the others back, when he looked over at Abigail she simply looked off in another direction paying him no particular mind.
In a sudden spur of action, he chose to give her a big hug in a sudden surprising maneuver. He tightened his grasp as his arms went around her and she began to push at his chest. “G-Get off of me you no good rotten scoundrel!”
“Oh come now Abigail. I’ve missed you so much. Didn’t you miss me?” He relinquished his grasp as she began pinching his nose. He stood back stifling a big laugh.
She began to pout and put her hands on her hips. “I didn’t miss you one bit. And next time you think to touch me, think again because I’ll punch or kick you right where you’ll least want me to.”
He looked down at himself and thought that he sure didn’t want that to happen. Ah, for us all to be together again. He had grown so close to the coalition. And while Abigail certainly gave off the impression of an uncaring familiar, deep down, she cared most of all. Or at least that was what he imagined was going on inside that flaming familiar heart of hers.