Jeanne knocked on the door to Doc’s office, Hypatia opening the door on the other side. “Hello there!” Silvius said cheerfully. He pulled the door back in full in let Jeanne in. “How did the meeting go?”
“All right,” said Jeanne as they walked up the first flight and into the hall. “Ben showed everyone the head. They all went bleh and then we were given polite ‘Get out’.”
“Huh,” said Silvius, “I would’ve thought they might want to do something about this?”
“That’s what of the rest of us thought. Cid said we should wait and see what comes of it.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Cid is pretty good when it comes to political acumen. Which I have no desire to learn at all.”
“So, what are we to do in the meantime?”
“Cid suggested we inquire about some new contracts. Probably help with connections and reputation while we see what the council does in the meantime,” said Jeanne as she sat down at the table and leaned her back against the table edge and stretched her back.
Where’s Doc and Hypatia, anyway?”
“There was an accident at one of the markets and someone grabbed to help some of the injured and Hypatia wanted to watch the process.”
“And you didn’t want to go with?”
“I’ve never been comfortable to watching medical things being done,” said Silvius. “I’m not certain why, but I never have.”
“I get that,” said Jeanne as she went over and grabbed a bottle from the cupboard. Rummaging through some of the bottles, she pulled out a bottle of wine and grabbed a few cups before walking over to the table Silvius was sitting.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the others to get back?”
Jeanne shook her head casually. “Oh, it’s fine, this is some of the stuff he keeps on hand for those days.”
“You think it’ll be that bad?”
“How long ago did they leave?”
“Oh, maybe a few minutes after you and the others left.”
Jeanne went wide eyed for a moment and then in one of the four cups poured the wine to almost to the brim. “Oh yeah, he’s going to need this.”
As she finished pouring the four cups, the sound of the door swinging open loudly. Loud, heavy stomps echoed on the walls as Doc and Hypatia made their way up the stairs. Their shoulders were slumped over, heads hanging low and dangling, with blood stains all over their clothes.
“Oh,” Jeanne groaned, “how bad?”
“Bad,” said Doc, grabbing the full cup and chugged the entire contents down in one drink. Jeanne cocking an eyebrow up before he slam the cup down as if attacking a foe with the pommel of his sword.
“What happened?” Jeanne asked, leaning back.
“Someone crashed their wagon into a crowd at a market and struck a few people.”
“Oh gods,” said Silvius, pulling back.
“At least a dozen children were hurt in the collision,” said Hypatia, running her hand over her face.
“Did they all make it?” Silvius asked.
Leonidas shook his head, “A few didn’t, and some people were crushed underneath the cart that went through when it toppled over, including the damned driver.”
“Gods, that’s horrible,” said Silvius.
“One of the perks of this occupation,” said Leonidas. “And gods I wished it wasn’t. How are you holding up, Hypatia?”
“Processing,” she said listlessly.
“Same,” said Leonidas.
“Do you want another one,” Jeanne asked.
“No, I should keep it to the one, gods forbid something else happens before the day is done.”
“Would you like us to give you two some privacy?”
“Honestly, I’d prefer some company,” said Leonidas.
“Same,” said Hypatia, nodding slowly.
“Well,” Jeanne said with some hesitation, “we had an interesting conversation with the Great Council.”
“Oh, what happened?” asked Hypatia.
Jeanne went over the conversation and how Cid wanted to handle the situation.
“Not a bad idea,” said Silvius, “in the political perspective, we are not unlike an invading army. Especially since we bring news that could, potentially shake the very foundations the principality here.”
“But we’re not threating the Council,” said Jeanne.
“No, though that may not be how they see us,” said Hypatia. “The Grand Council as it stands has today has withstood five centuries of wars, riots and insurrections, depressions, as well as other hardships, and its previous incarnation was formed back in the Age of Legends. If we tried to do anything without some form of support, we’d be a whiff of air trying to move a glacier.”
“I don’t like the idea of waiting while other forces are at work,” said Leonidas.
“Oh, I’m not at all uncomfortable with it in the slightest,” said Hypatia, “But there aren’t many viable options opened to us.”
“I guess that’s our current plan for the time being?” Silvius asked.
“For the time being,” said Jeanne. “So, we’ll need to find things to do in the meantime.”
“Oh gods,” said Silvius, “That reminds me we still needed to go to the university’s archives!”
“Right,” said Leonidas rising from his seat, “Let me get changed into some cleaner clothes.”
“You mind if I use the examination room, Doc?” Hypatia asked.
“I was just to say to use that one, actually.”
Hypatia made her way downstairs as Doc went up to the upper floor and his bed chambers. Silvius rose from his seat, “I’m going down to Doc’s surgery room, get my credentials in order for when we leave.”
“I think I’ll check in on Doc, make sure he’s all right,” said Jeanne.
“You don’t think he is?”
“Not sure, better safe than sorry.”
Jeanne negotiated her way up the steps and reaching Leonidas’s chambers knocked on the door.
“Yeah!” she heard from the other side.
“It’s me,” Jeanne replied.
“It’s unlocked.”
She grabbed the door handle and slowly pressed it inwards. Inside she saw a canopied bed, cloaked in blue drapes. A clean shirt, vest and pants resting on top of the bed linens. A chest rested at the end of the bed, nearby was a table and two chairs placed next to the bedroom window. Behind a dressing screen was a metal tub, empty of water and with a towel hanging over one of the long edges.
Next to the bed was a washing basin stand, with a mirror hanging on the wall above it. Leonidas, his shirt and vest now removed, splashed water over his bloodied hands and sweat covered face. She saw several scars marking his torso, including three long ones stretching from his back to his left side and front. She could see his lips pinched tightly shut, his hands frantically trying to remove the blood from his skin.
“Doc?” Jeanne said to him.
Doc was silent, the erratic movements growing in fury.
“Leonidas?”
Grabbing the bar of soap on the basin he threw it against the wall with all his might as he gave out a scream. As it bounced off it landed halfway back across the room. He looked at the bar, dented and misshaped. He went over to pick it up and rinse it and his hands off, grabbed a towel and dried his hands.
“I’m sorry you saw that,” he said to Jeanne.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about having an emotional reaction, even if it isn’t not what you want the world to see.”
Leonidas sat at the edge of his bed, placing his head in his hands and rubbing his forehead with his fingers. “No, but it doesn’t make the problem any better.”
“That’s if you let it be your only solution, Leonidas,” said Jeanne, sitting next to him on the bed. “But letting such things build up can eat away at you.”
“True. But gods I hate feeling like this.”
“I know.”
“I just feel so useless when I can’t save them. Even after all these years. And I knew the first day I started down this path that I wouldn’t be able to save everyone. But it still cuts deep sometimes. Especially when it’s a child. Gods, those are the worst.”
Jeanne put her hand on Doc’s shoulder. “You know this isn’t something you have to struggle with alone.”
Leonidas wiped budding tears from his eyes as he cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’s a lot easier said than done, Jeanne.”
He moved to throw on the shirt, buttoning it as she stood up. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Jeanne, I’ve lost a lot of friends. Many of them died on me when I tried to save them. And after a while, you just stop making new ones.”
“Was it that terrible in the Outlands?”
“It was hard. Any day could be your last. If it wasn’t the toxic storms of sand and ash, there were the animals lingering in the dark corners of the world, waiting to tear your flesh and gnaw your bones, and then …” Leonidas paused, looking at his hands, gripping them tightly before relaxing the muscles, “… then there were the people. Half you couldn’t trust to a cooking recipe let alone your darkest secrets. And those who, when I began to feel a slight sense of kinship died. So, I just stopped, and attended to my struggles on my own. I just grew tired of finding someone I could find some form of companionship and comfort and then lose them.”
Jeanne took Leonidas’s hand into hers. Looking up into his eyes. “I know what’s like to lose people close to you. But for what it’s worth, if you need to talk, I’m here.”
Leonidas smiled softly. “I know. You might a bane to my existence. But I’m glad you’re here.”
“You should probably finish getting dressed,” she said to him, “don’t want to keep the others waiting.”
“We could,” he said calmly, “But it might be rude.”
“And we wouldn’t want that,” she said coyly.
“I wouldn’t, I don’t need naysayers telling people I’m a bad host.”
“Because that’s the worst people could say about you,” she said.
“At least they aren’t saying I’m a bad singer.”
“I don’t even know where to start on that one.”
“Same here,” Leonidas said as he threw on his vest and grabbed his satchel, “but we should go meet the others.”
***
Riding outside of the city, the four eventually came to a complex of buildings encompassed around a wall roughly three-quarters the height of the city walls. There was an elaborate gate which had more of a decorative presence than one to provide protection. Students and professors moving around the campus grounds. Chattering to themselves, their noses deep in a book and the occasional pupil trying to catch up on lost slumber.
“Ah home sweet home,” Silvius said aloud.
“You think the professor would be glad to see us?” Hypatia asked as they entered under the university gate.
“I’d hope so,” said Silvius, “This was all his little idea.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Leonidas asked.
“Well,” said Silvius as they turned right and walked under a cobbled path with curved arches held the stone ceiling over their heads, “Professors Glyllnu were the ones who helped to organize our expedition.”
“And they pulled wait with the headmasters to actually approve our request to explore the ruins.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Why did they need to approve it?” Jeanne asked as Hypatia opened a large wooden door covered in iron forged designs of leaves and vines.
They moved down a hallway they moved past doorways into lecture halls, a few opened enough for Jeanne to peer through and see students jotting down on clay tablets with styluses as their instructors told read to them from giant tomes resting on lecterns.
As they made their way through the halls, Silvius replied, “The Council, in conjunction with the bylaws of the university, stated that any and all explorations within ancient and uninhabited ruins must be approved by or it will be considered equal to the crime of graverobbing.”
“That’s a bit harsh,” Jeanne replied.
“Keeps amateurs, boredom afflicted youth, and actual grave robbers from considering diving into places they should not go,” said Hypatia.
“Just imagine some bored child wandering into The Unyielding Fortress to find what we did,” said Leonidas.
“Chances are they wouldn’t have made it out alive,” said Silvius solemnly before spotting a room with the number thirty-four above the doorframe. “Ah here we are.”
Inside the room they found a gnomish woman, standing next to a lectern. She was gingerly dabbing her quill into an ink well before jotting down notes on a parchment. Silvius knocked on the doorframe. “Professor Glyllnu?” he called out politely.
“Hmm?” the professor said before turning to them. “Oh, Silvius, Hypatia!” she said before moving a series of steps from the lectern and moved towards them. “How did the expedition go?”
“It’s brought about some intriguing results,” said Hypatia.
“Well, don’t keep in suspense,” she said, quickly clapping her finger tips together, “Tell me what you saw.”
Hypatia and Silvius reported on the events on their expedition into The Unyielding Fortress. Professor Glyllnu slowly scratched the back of his head, her gaze wandering off as she took in the words. “Well,” she said with a short pause before continuing, “that was not what I was expecting to hear.”
“What were you expecting?” Jeanne asked.
“Your normal affairs of an abandoned ruins. Some treasures, maybe some broken pieces of pottery, possibly of book or two, and, depending on the ruin, any number of skeletons. Certainly nothing along the lines of a woman who was supposed to be exceptionally dead, let alone who metamorphosized into a snake type person. Highly unusual, if not a bit odd.”
“We could always show you the head,” said Jeanne.
“You have her head!” Glyllnu hissed, “Why in all of logic and reasoning would you have her head?”
“Well, who hear would believe our story of slaying Queen Belthory if we did not present something off her person,” Silvius replied.
“That’s a fair one,” said Glyllnu, “But that leaves a few more questions unanswered.”
“Such as?” asked Leonidas.
“Well,” said Glyllnu, crossing her arms, “firstly, how is she not dead? As the records went, she and her husband were slain by Allania and her chosen blades when they took the city.”
“Either someone lied, or they got something wrong,” said Jeanne.
“Not impossible, but it’s a rather large bit of information to get wrong,” said Glyllnu, “Though if she was not brought back to life, what did she do to sustain herself?”
“She did have that massive blood pool,” said Silvius, “Perhaps she used that to sustain her?”
“No,” said Leonidas, “Once it’s out, blood is almost useless in most of its intended purposes. Even vampires need to drink through the skin or it starts to harm their systems. The only thing you can do with exposed blood is use for a religious offerings or disturbing decorations.”
“But I thought Belthory believed she could sustain her life by bathing in blood,” said Hypatia.
“She did, and she was wrong.” said Leonidas. “But you’ll accept anything as truth if it keeps you from accepting realities you dare not believe.”
“In that case,” said Glyllnu, “It must’ve demonic in nature. But what of her husband? The chronicles said Alliana personally beheaded him and displayed it to her soldiers and the city’s populace.”
“Maybe he hasn’t been brought back?” followed Jeanne. The others turned to her. “We found no signs that he was there, only those of his followers.”
“But why kill them?” asked Silvius.
“Payment to whomever they serve, I’d bet,” said Leonidas. “Many demons are like that when it comes to the price paid for their boons.”
“And the ley stone there is … most unusual,” said Glyllnu.
“How so?”
“Well, they tend to be held in places where arcane research and experimentation is held. One of the biggest reasons being the needed safeguards in the event the powers used start to overwhelm the person using them. There have been incidents of these being found outside of such places, but seldom do they occur.”
“Would there be any maps showing what this leystone connects to?” asked Hypatia.
“I’d be surprised if there wasn’t,” said Glyllnu, “But they are most likely in the special archives, which isn’t open to the public.”
“Is there anyone we could talk to for that access?” Jeanne asked.
“There is one, he’s been working with me for this very project.”
“Can we find him at his office?” Silvius asked her.
“What’s today? Tuesday,” Glyllnu squeezed her chin to her chest as her eyes bulged for a brief moment. “Oh.”
“What? What is it?” Silvius asked.
“You can definitely find him, but it’s going to in a rather unorthodox spot.”
***
“I think we’ve been had,” said Jeanne as they looked at the front of the brothel. It was a three-story building. Each succeeding level putting out slightly. On the rafters hung lanterns, alternating from a normal tint and a red one along the length of the rafters. There were no other decorations to mark the building. They came upon an iron door with a grated viewport. Above the entrance was a sign of the moon resting in the palm of a hand with the name Selene’s Solar.
“You’d be surprised how many a professor has used this place for a lecture hall,” said Silvius.
“Still better than a horse stable,” said Hypatia.
“No shit,” said Leonidas.
Jeanne groaned, “Really, Doc?”
“Oh, you love my puns.”
“Love is not the word I’d use to describe that.”
Silvius lightly tapped on the door. Heavy clomps were followed by eyes of a male dwarf coming into view through the port. “Yes, what do you want?” the dwarf said to them.
“We were hoping to speak with Professor Wilford?” said Silvius. “We were told he was holding lectures here?”
“Right,” said the dwarf, “What’s your permission number?”
“Um,” said Silvius, scratching the back of his head and tucking his lips in. “We don’t actually have one. We were hoping to consult him on a particular manner.”
“Well, I’m sorry,” said the dwarf, “But if you don’t have a number to enter the class I can’t let you in to see the man.”
“Is there any other way we could get in?” Hypatia asked.
“Unless you’re going to be participating in any business with our courtesans, I’m afraid not. And I would highly discourage the ‘say you are and sneak in’ ploy. They worked around those with a few unsavory countermeasures.”
“Well thank you kindly,” said Silvius as he and Hypatia turned to Leonidas and Jeanne. “Well, I’m out of ideas.”
“Let me try something,” said Leonidas as he walked up to the door, “Hey Gruddoc.”
“Oh, doctor, good to see ya.”
“Good to see you, too. How’s your foot feeling?”
“A lot better than it was a while back.”
“That’s good to hear, and the wife and children?”
“Oh, you know, same old same old.”
“Wonderful!”
“I don’t suppose you’re with the two who just tried to come in?”
Leonidas nodded. “I am.”
“Well,” said Gruddoc, “you know the rules, as well.”
“Perhaps if we could speak with Madame Selene and possibly get an exemption? This is somewhat urgent in nature?”
“What type of urgent are we talking about here?”
“We killed a giant snake lady who had a blood pool,” said Jeanne.
Gruddoc looked back to Leonidas. “That true?”
“I was flung into said blood of pool.”
“Oh, not a good day to have been you,” said Gruddoc. “Well, I’ll talk to her, but I can’t make any promises.”
“More than appreciated,” said Leonidas. As Gruddoc left Leonidas walked back to the others. “So, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“How are you on first name basis with the doorman?” Jeanne asked.
“Well, he messed his foot up something fierce a few months back and I helped him get back on his feet, literally in this sense. But, many of the people working here were some of my first regular clients when I moved into the city.”
“That’s almost serendipitous,” said Hypatia.
“Plus, many of the people who work here come to me for physicals, examinations, and the like. Certainly, has had its advantages.”
“Snuggles or gossip?” Jeanne asked.
“Gossip,” said Leonidas, “Oh what secrets of the world are spilt when pillow talk is in play.”
The door opened and an elven woman clad in dark red silk gown flowing down to her feet. Red hair hung from her head and over her right shoulder. A waist belt helped the dress fit to her voluptuous form. Two female attendants stepped out behind her as the woman approached Leonidas, her arms outstretched.
“Leonidas!” she said cheerfully, giving him a firm embrace, “so good to see you again.”
“And you as well, Lady Selene.”
“Oh, still so formal?” she said releasing him. “Well regardless, I am glad to see you back. And Silvius, I haven’t seen you in many a day. You’ve become so robust since our last meeting.”
“Well,” said Silvius, looking away and his cheeks becoming red. “I guess I’ve put on a few pounds.”
“Oh, don’t be so crude,” Selene said, touching his shoulder, “Humility, while becoming, should never lessen one’s growth. Hypatia,” she said, taking Hypatia’s hands into hers, a sweet smile coming to her face, “how have you been?”
“Good,” said Hypatia, brushing locks of Selene hair off her forehead and behind her ear. “Busy, but good.”
“Well, maybe when you’re not busy we could catch up on your daring dos.”
“It is the first thing I wish to do, Lady Moonlight,” Hypatia said to her.
Selene’s head tilted to the side, a light smile on her face. “Just be careful out there.”
“As you wish, my lady,” Hypatia replied.
Selene looked down to the ground for a moment before turning to Jeanne. “Now here is a face I have not seen. Who might be?”
“I am Jeanne Marias,” Jeanne replied, bowing her head forward.
“Well Lady Marias, a friend of these three is a friend of mine,” Selene said, gesturing them to follow. “Come, come, let us move to more conducive settings for conversation.”
As they entered Gruddoc asked Selene, “Is there anything you’ll need of me, my lady.”
“Not at the moment,” she replied. “You may return to your post, good sir.”
Gruddoc put his hand over his chest and bowed his head before returning to his station.
The four followed Selene as she moved through the entry hall and up a winding staircase. Reaching the second story and moving down the hallway towards the back of the building.
“Now, Master Gruddoc informed me that you were wanting to speak with Professor Wilford?” Selene asked.
“Yes,” said Silvius, “we were hoping to see if he could help us with something.”
“I see,” Selene replied, “I can imagine he’ll enjoy someone to talk to once his lecture is over. Poor man.”
“Is something wrong with him?” Jeanne asked.
“Nothing to his health, so far as I know. But you can tell this setting is not his cup of tea. He is a man who prefers the quietness of a lecture hall over this environment.”
“Then why is he here?” Jeanne asked.
“The university’s governing body felt it was in their best interests to increase the fees professors must pay to rent their lecture halls. We, on the other hand, have kept ours the same. So, we’ve almost turned this old building into a proper bastion of learning, what with all the academic minds now coming here to teach.”
“I can imagine it’s been a boon to business,” said Leonidas.
“More ways than one,” said Selene. “Given all the academic talent coming here, some of my courtesans have learned enough of academia to become tutors. Literally doubled their income in some cases.”
“I’m surprised no one from here has started teaching on the campus,” said Silvius.
Selene scoffed. “The Council would rather watch their city burn I holy-fire than see someone they find beneath them rise above their station. To them, we are vermin spreading filth and sin to their pure and innocent citizens. At times I think they are too afraid to look in a mirror, and see what a true whore is.”
“What, you mean your betters are not better, scandalous!” said Leonidas.
“They certainly look like their shit doesn’t stink,” said Jeanne.
“I see you meant them?” Selene asked.
“Sadly,” said Jeanne, “they seemed more annoyed by us than anything else.”
Selene shook her head in a mocking manner. “That’s normally what happens when you’re too busy patting yourself on the back to do anything else. Most of the city has learned to run itself over the last few generations of leadership. But that is a conversation for another time,” Selene stopped and held her hand at a door, “Your professor should be finishing up his lecture in this room.”
“Thank you, Lady Selene,” said Silvius, “We’re in your debt.”
“Think nothing of it,” said Selene. “I’m always willing to help good friends.”
“Well, we’ll try not to tarry past our welcome,” said Leonidas.
‘Take as much as you need. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Selene said as she took her leave.
The four stood by the door until students began filing out of the room and down the hall, a couple knocking on the door to some of the other courtesans and being ushered inside.
“I should be surprised,” said Jeanne, “But I’m really not.”
“Can’t really blame them,” said Leonidas.
“No, no you can’t.”
As they entered the room, they found a bed covered in a wool blanket. A lectern with a book resting on top of it, opened to a random page. Several candles were lit with a roaring fire crackling from a fireplace. The walls were covered in notes, maps and drawings of artifacts and artwork from ages long past. In a chair near the lectern was a man slumped in his chair letting out a heavy sigh with closed eyes.
“Hello? Professor Wilford?” Silvius gently called out.
“Hmm, what?” Wilford said as he snorted himself from a slumber. “Oh. Oh! Silvius, Hypatia, two people I don’t know! How do you do?”
“Very well, sir,” Silvius replied. “We have news of our expedition to the ruins.”
Wilford jumped out of his chair, his weariness immediately gone. “You what! Tell me what you found.”
“Would you prefer the abridged report,” Hypatia asked, pulling out a thin report, “Or the full one?” she asked as she pulled out an immensely thick pile of papers that she dropped on the bed. The pile bouncing for a moment before settling.
“I take found some things,” he said to her sardonically. Taking the smaller report, he skimmed through the document. Going over the pages, his brow furrowed increasingly. “You found The Unyielding Fortress?” he asked in a breathless voice.
“That wasn’t the only thing,” Silvius replied.
Wilford continued reading before his widened. “You … found Belthory?”
“Well, we also too her head,” said Jeanne.
“You have her head!”
“Oh yeah, with tendrils and saggy jaw and everything.”
“How eloquently put, Jeanne,” said Leonidas.
“My gods,” said Wilford. “This is … I cannot find the words to speak what in on my mind.”
“Well,” said Silvius, “We were hoping there was something you could do to help us.”
“Yes, of course. What can I do?”
“We need access to the special archives, we found a leystone and though to cross-reference between existing leylines with the fortress.”
“Absolutely, I’d be happy to …” Wilford said before above them there was a series of thumps coming from above them. Each one getting faster until it was a constant pace. Soon cries and moans came with the thumps as Wilford rested his head in his hand.
“Is that what I think it is?” Silvius asked.
“That … that’s Ciara’s three o’clock.” He let out a heavy sigh as he pulled out a quill and inkwell. “Let me get you a permission note and after that, I don’t know about you fine people, but I’m getting something to drink.”