Initially, Ingrid had expected the entrance to be at the base of the split mountain, where she could still see what looked like a fortified wall blocking the entrance. Strangely enough, there were no guards there that she could see. The entrance Kallen had escorted them to was a winding path that took them up the side of one half of the mountains.
They were able to get past the guards without much trouble. Fortunately, one of them happened to be a human woman. Ingrid wasn’t quite sure how she felt about Alice flirting with her so brazenly, but it made the woman flustered enough to let them through without much questioning. As they had passed through the tunnel that led through the mountain and into the city, Ingrid found herself fascinated by the difference in equipment between Cordelian and Amalthean soldiers. Cordelians were known to wear many different vestments of light chainmail and maneuverable armor, decorated with colors and designs that reminded her of how in touch with nature the country was. The guards outside on the other hand wore stone-gray heavy plate, with thick padding being visible at the joints.
“This is incredible…” Ingrid gasped in awe as they exited onto the bustling main road. Calling it a road even felt strange. She associated ‘road’ with being on the ground, which they were very decidedly not. It was an enormous, immaculately shaped stone bridge that extended out from one half of the mountain like a terrace. Nestled against the wall of the mountains were buildings constructed similarly out of stone, but the walls were pockmarked with glowing windows that revealed buildings carved into the mountain itself much like the underground section of Baile Stioballan. She also saw that the mountain wasn’t split in one clean cut. There were other cracks and crags that veered off into different directions, making her feel like she had just entered an enormous labyrinth. There was a mix of the gray bridges and walls that looked magical, manually carved, and natural. Seeing such a prevalent mix of all three was breathtaking.
She rushed over to the stone railing to peer down into the abyss, only to be greeted with the sight of more bridges and terraces that linked the two halves. Throughout the expanse between them were more wyverns and griffins than she had ever seen in one place before. Some carried single guards on their backs, patrolling casually through the terraces with crossbows, while other significantly larger ones carried entire groups of people to what looked like drop off stations on other levels.
On the rims of the bridges she could even make out arcane runes that were likely used to hold them aloft and keep their structural integrity. No matter where she looked, the city was alive with the sounds of people clamoring about, bards giving streetside performances, and the flying animals throughout giving their own cries. She grinned as she heard them. They were the cries of animals that were well respected and taken care of.
She had always thought that the way Cordelian cities lived harmoniously with nature was incredible, that the hospital in its heart was a testament to the beauty of the magic that bound them. This made her nearly tear up in awe.
“Okay let’s settle a bit, Princess. We don’t exactly want to look too much like tourists,” Alice joked, having caught up with her and put an arm around her shoulder. All Ingrid could do was nod quietly. She hadn’t the slightest clue what to even say.
“Th-Those runes are channeling gravitational magic!” Malori squeaked from behind her. Ingrid turned back to see the esper’s eyes just as wide as hers. “Cordelian mages have been struggling to p-properly apply it, but here it’s used in architectural magic! Th-this is almost a century beyond what royal mages are capable of! A-And the stone shaping on such a wide scale–”
“Shortie, what did I just say,” Alice sighed, putting a finger over Malori’s mouth. The shorter girl’s shoulders sagged as she was cut off, but Alice wasn’t exactly wrong. If they ran about gawking at everything new and exciting then it would be obvious that they weren’t from the city. At worst, the country. “Alright, Kallen, where’s this Lowcliff you mentioned? We’re not here to sightsee.”
“Oh, it’s past one of those crags over there! Follow me,” she said happily, beckoning the group to follow. “And if you’re excited about the magic, it’s from Archmage Vivienne. I uh, don’t really know a ton about it, but my parents mentioned her a few times when I was little. Apparently she was responsible for building this city… Sixty years ago now? I’m not really sure.”
“How illuminating,” Natalia grumbled. She hadn’t argued as much as Ingrid had expected her to when preparing to enter the city. It was a little comical to see her walk around in such a large cloak, but she was doing a surprisingly good job following the sound of their voices. At the very least she hadn’t bumped into anyone yet.
“Thanks! I usually don’t remember stuff like that, so I figured I’d share. Oh, don’t listen to any street vendors who directly approach you by the way, they’re probably going to try and rip you off.”
“Is that another thing you remembered or that just experience?” Alice raised an eyebrow.
“Experience! Why do you ask?”
“This is the least surprising thing I’ve heard all day. Let’s go,” she deadpanned, taking Ingrid’s hand in hers as they followed Kallen.
Sure enough, they were approached by numerous vendors selling all sorts of things. Hand-crafted jewelry, fresh fruits, pastries, pocket-watches, and even one offering stuffed toys. Ingrid was very tempted to get the stuffed polar bear, given she had only ever read about them before. Alice quickly shooed her away, much to her disappointment.
There was a little bit of vertigo as they crossed one of the much thinner bridges over to the other half of the mountain. Seeing it was one thing, but actually moving over that expanse that somehow felt crowded yet devoid of anything at the same time was another entirely. She loved it. Ingrid didn’t even notice that they had entered into a crack in the mountain until they were making another turn. It was the middle of the day, but the area they were entering was dark, shaded by the peak of the mountain that hadn’t quite been split from the rest of it.
Ingrid continued to look in awe at the architecture around her, even as the areas they were entering began to look less and less maintained. Dull orange lamps provided as much light as they could as the midday sun became less and less apparent. It was hard for her eyes to adjust, given the albedo of the snow, but Kallen seemed to have no trouble navigating through the twists and turns until they arrived at a small line of people. They shuffled into a carved out portion of the mountain wall where they were packed tightly in a rickety wooden and metal box. Once no more people could fit, a red haired human man in an eyepatch held out a hand to a small panel. His hand crackled with arcane energy as purple runes began to glow on the panel and the corners of the box.
A loud humming noise echoed across the wall as the box began to lower itself down into the depths. Malori and Ingrid looked excitedly at the application of what was clearly gravitational magic, but Alice held them both back from asking about it. After a few minutes, the man shifted his fingers, tracing a sigil in the air before bringing his hand upward. It wasn’t long before the box returned to its starting position and a muscular dwarven woman stepped forward to reopen the gates.
A tall surgian with sleek brown fur stepped forward, adjusting her eyeglasses. “Next group please,” she said officially.
More people walked forward, dropping a few coins into the surgian’s hand before entering the box. She eyed them all meticulously, nodding in approval as each person gave the same amount. Ingrid froze as they grew closer. Finally able to make out the coins, she realized something that likely should have crossed her mind before; Amalthean and Cordelian coins differed greatly. She wondered if they’d even accept her gold and silver here.
Alice squeezed her hand, prompting Ingrid to look at her. “Don’t worry about money, I got it,” she said confidently.
Ingrid really wished she could get an explanation, but Alice loved showing off. When it finally came time to pay, Alice reached into her sleeve and pulled out a handful of coins. Amalthean ones. Ingrid’s eyes went wide as she quickly counted out five sets of them, then dropped them into the surgian’s hand before waving the rest of the group along.
“Where did you get those?” Ingrid whispered in shock.
“Oh, I pickpocketed a few people while we headed over here,” she said with pride, “Figured we’d run into that issue at least at some point.”
“When did you even have the time to do that? You’ve been holding my hand this whole time!”
A wide grin spread across Alice’s face as she held a finger up to her mouth. “We’re kinda gettin crowded. Don’t wanna spill any tasty secrets yet.”
Ingrid pouted, earning herself a small boop on the nose that she couldn’t help but smile at. She looked at the other three to see Malori practically bouncing with excitement as she examined the runes at the corners. Once again her shoulders visibly sagged when she was pushed further into the box to fit more people.
The gates made a grinding noise as they were closed, followed by that loud humming. Ingrid felt her heart leap up into her throat as the floor began to move. She leaned on Alice for support as she stared at the ground. The floor became stable again as the box was again slowly lowered down into the depths of the crag. She wished she could see past the crowd of people packed in in front of her. The lamps became more and more plentiful as they descended, the natural light fading ever dimmer. Finally, the elevator stopped moving, and they were allowed to step out and onto another terrace.
Saying that the area they entered was dark as a cave felt wrong somehow after Baile Stioballan. That cavern had been filled with warm light and clean air that made it feel like perpetual daytime. This was the exact opposite. The air was stale, filled with the smells of smoke and mildew among the wooden structures. It wasn’t dark enough for her not to see, but it reminded her of night time on a busy road. Anywhere off the main bridge was only partially visible in the midst of shadows that would have made Mattias run around like an excited child.
“So… Where to?” Alice deadpanned, looking at Kallen.
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“I–What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I just said that this place had your vibes! A bunch of the more illegal stuff happens here. I never actually spent a bunch of time here,” she explained casually.
Alice pinched the bridge of her nose, turning to Ingrid. “If I stab her just a little bit she’d probably barely even notice, right?”
Ingrid didn’t bother responding, instead opting to give her an unamused look. Her lover groaned again.
“Okay fine! Usually taverns are a good place to start. Let’s just look around for one of those and ask where we can find an info broker or some shit,” she sighed, defeated. She chose a random direction (Not that random, there were only two at the moment) and marched off. Kallen shrugged and walked off after her, quickly followed by Natalia and Malori. Their group got a couple of strange looks, but none lasted particularly long, much to Ingrid’s relief.
It didn’t take long for Alice to point out a wooden sign with a lute and mug of ale painted on it. Under the picture in surprisingly fancy letters read ‘The Bard’s Brew’ with an arrow pointing at a door carved into the stone. One step inside and Ingrid was already reminded of how uncomfortable places like these made her. No sooner than Alice had opened the door it felt like all eyes were on their group with looks ranging from skepticism to curiosity to the way someone would look at a fresh cut of meat. She gulped, staring directly at the ground when she felt Alice’s elbow gently bump her arm.
“Hey, chin up, Princess,” she said fondly, “If you look confident, no one’ll question you.”
She gave a small nod, struggling to raise her head. Keeping her eyes straight forward, careful not to make eye contact with any of the patrons, she followed behind Alice. It was the middle of the day, so luckily things weren’t too crowded, but there were still maybe a dozen people scattered throughout the small room. She allowed herself a quick glance back to see how the other three were handling it. Malori looked like if she made eye contact with anyone she was going to explode, whereas Kallen was joyfully humming to herself as she looked around at the ceiling. Ingrid would’ve loved to be that unbothered by anything. Natalia’s reaction was harder to gauge, considering she could barely see her face. That was the idea of the cloak though, so that was probably a good thing.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The bar itself was an odd sight. Rather than stools, there was a long, beige cushion laid out in front of a counter that was only about a foot and a half off the ground. Behind it, a gnomish man with spiked purple hair and sharp, intimidating features that Ingrid wouldn’t have expected from a gnome was serving drinks to an enormous, muscular orc with red hair that reached the ground.
Alice walked up and plopped herself down on the cushion. She leaned an elbow on the counter, rolling a gold coin back and forth along it. “Oi, mind if I get a mug of whatever ale’ll get me fucked up the quickest?” she asked playfully. It was clear that she was putting on some sort of act, given that she didn’t even react to Kallen sitting down next to her.
The gnome looked them over, then up at Ingrid, Malori, and Natalia, then back at them. “Give me a moment,” they said in a dry voice. Ingrid winced at it. The man sounded like a drill sergeant. He turned to the back wall, where several large slots filled with spigoted barrels poked through what was likely a storage room. Grabbing a mug, he began to fill it.
As the gnome fetched Alice’s drink, the orc leaned on the counter, smiling at her and Kallen. “Well well well, don’t think I’ve seen either of you two around here. You new in town?” he asked in a much smoother voice than Ingrid expected for an orc.
“Just tryin out a new tavern. You a regular here?” Alice asked, not looking at the man.
“Think anyone who’ll go to a tavern in the middle of the day is a regular. What’s your name, miss? Don’t wanna forget such a pretty face now.”
Alice finally turned, looking him up and down. “Yeah sorry, not really into men. Tell you what, I’ll humor you though. The name’s Nyxie.”
“Well Nyixie, you keep some… Odd company. Think that little one’s about to explode,” he joked, jerking his head toward Malori, “Don’t mean to alarm you either, but I think someone’s stalking you. Not doing a good job of it. They’re a little close.”
Ingrid whirled around, her heart skipping a beat. She was a little embarrassed when she looked back and realized that he was pointing directly at Natalia.
He let out a hearty laugh before taking another swig from his mug. “Nevermind, seems like two of you are on edge! Maybe they should have a drink. Lighten things up a little bit.”
“Shurkul, I would appreciate it if you didn’t taunt my customers. I already have to deal with your partner trying to ‘sample the wares’ on a nightly basis. I have a business to run,” the gnome said in an irritated voice.
“Friend of yours?” Alice asked.
“Ah don’t mind Regal here, him and I go way back.”
“Unfortunately,” he said flatly, handing Alice her drink.
She smiled, taking a gulp of the frothy liquid. “Damn! That’s some good stuff. You make it yourself?”
“Yes. Though this one does keep begging for me to teach him.”
Alice put the mug down, leaning over the counter as Shurkul laughed at the jab. She slid three silver coins to Regal, who raised an eyebrow.
“The ale does not cost this much, and I doubt you’re that good of a tipper,” he deadpanned.
“Well, I was hoping it would convince you to give me a little wiggle room,” she explained, swirling her mug, “You know anywhere we can get some information around here? Broker, someone connected, tourism bureau, that sorta thing.”
Regal took the coin and looked it over, like he expected it to be a fake. “That depends on the type of information you are looking for. If you are intending to cause trouble in Lowcliff, I won’t be helping you.”
“Nah, nothing like that! Don’t worry,” she assured him, “We’re looking for someone. They definitely aren’t here, but we’re hoping to find a diviner that can help us. Know anyone that can point us in the right direction?”
He exchanged a look with Shurkul, then slid two coins back to Alice. “The drink is one silver piece. I’m no information broker, but you won’t find a diviner here in any timely manner,” he explained, “There is one in The Peak who offers their services, but they are highly expensive, and appointments must be made almost a month in advance. You do not seem like a woman who wants to wait that long.”
Alice grimaced as she heard the prospects. She took the two silvers and stuck them back in her pocket, before gulping down the rest of her ale, giving a satisfied burp as she finished. “Well, appreciate the honesty.”
“I would’ve kept the coins,” Shurkul muttered in amusement. This only earned him an icy glare from his gnomish friend. He chuckled, taking another swig of his own ale and wiping his mouth. “Don’t know what it is you’re out there trying to do, but I wish you and your friends luck. Maybe one of them will even talk sometime soon!”
“Oh, I talk all the time!” Kallen said happily, waving at the two. “I just didn’t know why we were here so I didn’t say anything.”
Shurkul gave a hearty laugh. “Can’t argue with that! Safe travels to you four. And your stalker. Keep at it and I’m sure one day you’ll keep hidden!”
If the odd sense of malice behind her was anything to go by, Ingrid was fairly certain that if Natalia had her eyes open the light would be intense enough to set the counter on fire. Alice got up and started heading out of the tavern. “Come on, we got ground to cover,” She said plainly, not even bothering to say goodbye to Shurkul and Regal. Ingrid bowed to the two of them in thanks before rushing after Alice.
“Alice, what’s wrong?” she asked quietly. Usually her demeanor didn’t drop so fast after leaving a place. This had her worried.
“I’m fuckin annoyed, alright? We came to this city, we followed Kallen, and there isn’t even a diviner here unless we want some boujie asshole who’ll probably charge us more money than someone around here sees in a lifetime,” she spat. She glared back at Kallen, who was seeming to pay the two of them no mind whatsoever. Ingrid was pretty sure that that just made it worse. “Let’s just find an inn, in one of the actually decent areas. I wanna restock and actually have a bed to sleep in tonight.”
Ingrid took her hand, rubbing it gently with her thumb. “We never knew if a diviner would be here or not, and we knew we’d have to come here to restock anyway,” she explained, “This isn’t Kallen’s fault, Alice.”
“Woulda preferred not to go practically underground to get literally nothing done,” she muttered.
“I thought you preferred places like these?”
“Yeah, I do. Not in a different country. There’s a difference,” she hissed, her other hand almost seeming to flail as she made multiple annoyed gestures. “We coulda just stayed in the upper levels and took the day to actually rest.”
Ingrid sighed, leaning her head against Alice’s shoulder. “Let’s head back to the elevator. We can get a nice inn with a bathhouse, and have the whole day to relax, then restock in the morning.”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Do you really want to be wasting time like this?” she asked softly.
“It’s not a waste if it means we’re rested up and ready to keep going. I think everyone needs a break after what happened in the mountains,” she sighed, “Besides, I think Malori might actually keel over if we keep going at the rate we’ve been going.”
There was a defeated sigh from Alice as she leaned over and kissed the top of Ingrid’s head. “Fine. But only because you asked so nicely.”
“I didn’t ask, I just said what we were going to do,” Ingrid giggled.
“Exactly. Straight to the point. I like it.”
Ingrid smiled, taking her head from her lover’s shoulder. There was only a bit of idle smalltalk as they returned to the elevator and rode it to the upper levels. They discussed what supplies they would need, and the idea of getting Natalia her own tent, which she promptly pointed out was stupid given that Alice and Ingrid were sharing one. Malori suggested looking for a bookstore, but was shot down when she realized that her books were already taking up a fair bit of space in the dimensional bag.
Unfortunately, Alice also shut down the idea of riding on one of the wyverns. Ingrid couldn’t exactly complain, or say that it was unjustified, but she also couldn’t help pouting a bit. It earned her another taste of that radiant laugh that she had fallen so deeply in love with, so it wasn’t all bad.
“Ah, I think that’s an inn over there! Right, Natalia?” Kallen exclaimed.
“I am praying for your sake that that is a joke.”
Ingrid squinted, then noticed the sign reading ‘Misty Mountain Inn’ attached to a homey looking building connected to the wall of the mountain. She turned to Alice. “How much money did you take? Will we have enough for a night plus whatever we need to buy?” she asked quietly, being careful not to attract attention to the way they had gotten their money.
Alice stuck her tongue out in focus as she shifted through the coins in her hand, then scowled. “Probably not. You know what? Give me just a second,” she said, her voice going from annoyed to confident.
Ingrid followed Alice’s gaze to a pair of women leaning against the railing of the terrace, chatting and looking out at the bustling city. They both wore fancy clothes, and one wore earrings with perfectly cut jewels. She clicked her tongue. They were definitely wealthy, which meant they might have had enough to cover everything. Ingrid still felt bad. Stealing was wrong, but she didn’t have many other options. She had to compromise on a few things to find her brother, this was just going to be one of them. Hopefully Nilin would forgive her under the circumstances.
Alice walked casually forward, eyes straight ahead, pretending she didn’t even see the two women. She looked like any other citizen just going about their daily business. If Ingrid wasn’t looking directly at it, she never would have noticed the way her hand shifted and slipped seamlessly into the folds of their cloaks, emerging both times with pouches that seemed quite full before they vanished with a flick of her wrist. That same bit of sleight of hand she did with her knives so many times before had become a little more familiar to Ingrid. She continued walking, then glanced back at Ingrid, not stopping.
Ingrid was confused for a moment, then practically jumped as she realized what she meant. “Guys I think we’re supposed to follow her. You know, so it’s not suspicious,” she said to the other three.
Kallen looked down at her, then shrugged and started heading off after Alice, the others close behind. Alice slowed her pace, giving them time to catch up. They were almost there when a guard stepped off of one of the bridges, putting a hand in front of Alice.
“You seem to be in a hurry. Something the matter?” she asked. It was a human woman, tall, pale skinned with a pointed nose and high cheekbones that gave her a surprisingly gaunt appearance.
Alice stopped. Ingrid couldn’t see her face, but she hurried forward to help. Flipping her ponytail back, Alice seemed to relax a bit. “Yeah, just got separated from a couple friends. Looking for ‘em right now. You wouldn’t happen to know where a half-elf and an orc went, would you? Both tall as shit, orc is missing a tusk?”
The guard looked unamused, glancing at Ingrid. “No. Now, would you like to return what you stole from those two women and follow me to my office? All of you.”
Ingrid felt her blood run cold. There was a slight flicker to Alice’s smile that was almost imperceptible. “What’re you talkin about? I’m just trying to get to an inn and–”
“If you’re going to pickpocket, learn not to have another member of your group staring right at you the whole time,” the woman rolled her eyes, gesturing to Ingrid.
Alice whirled around, a look of disbelief on her face that made Ingrid wince. Several more guards had wandered over, establishing a perimeter around the group. The bustling flow of people was interrupted as more and more citizens stopped to look, whispers and mutterings about what was happening being exchanged amongst the crowd. The wind started to pick up a bit as Ingrid tried to keep calm.
“I-Ingrid, what do we do?” Malori squeaked quietly, shrinking away from all the eyes on her.
Ingrid’s mouth felt dry as her lover’s eyes felt like they were burning into her flesh. Was this really her fault? Was something so simple going to get them caught only a week into arriving in Amalthea?
Alice’s eyes quickly softened, her ears flicking down. She turned back to the guard. “Look, I don’t know who the hell these people are, no need to get them involved in something I did. Just take me to whatever place you had in mind and let’s get this over with. Alright?”
The woman narrowed her eyes, stepping closer to Alice. “Yet they were rushing towards you. Particularly the elf.”
“Look, I wouldn’t be opposed to knowing that one. Quite frankly, she’s pretty hot, but let’s be real, she was probably just trying to get me to give back–” the guard cut her off by grabbing her by the collar and yanking her forward. “Whoa! Easy easy I’m gonna give ba–”
“Then stop running your mouth and do it already. And if I find out that you do know these four, there will be consequences for them as well,” she growled, all but throwing Alice to the ground. A gasp of surprise reverberated through the crowd.
Ingrid’s mind was racing with ways to get out of the situation. She could shape the stone, but she had no idea how far down the next terrace was if they were going to drop. One of the guards likely would be able to realize what she was doing too. There was nowhere to run either. The guards surrounded them in a semicircle, the only open side being the edge of the terrace that dropped off into the chasm.
The thoughts came to a screeching halt as she heard something clatter to the ground and slide to her feet. Every synapse in her brain was screaming at her not to look down at it. Like if she didn’t see it, it wouldn’t be there. Then she wouldn’t have to face the reality that the guards had quickly gone wide eyed and leveled all of their spears at Alice. Her breath caught in her throat as she finally looked down, seeing the porcelain mask on the stone in front of her.
“A dark elf…”
“What the hell is one doing up here?”
“Go back to your cities, greyskin!”
“Throw her over the side and be done with it!”
The crowd began roaring with a mix of fear, confusion, and anger as Alice stumbled to her feet, her yellow eyes and dark skin revealed to the mob. The people surged forward as Alice and Ingrid both frantically searched for a way out, neither saying a thing. The guards struggled to hold back the tide of people, but they were quickly overrun. Ingrid reached out to Malori and Kallen as the people rushed past them, Malori crying her name out as she struggled to reach for them.
Ingrid tried to channel her magic and shape the stone into a wall around her, but she felt the energy fizzle out like a candle shoved in a pool of water. There was too much chaos, too much panic.
“ENOUGH!” a booming voice shouted, silencing them with an enormous gust of wind. Another boom rang out as the form slammed into the ground in front of the two of them. Ingrid didn’t even realize that she had reflexively grabbed onto Alice in the chaos.
Another wave of confusion spread through the crowd as they looked at the woman in front of them. She rose up, her enormous, pure white wings spreading out to their full length. Ingrid was suddenly acutely aware of why such a thing was considered intimidating to other birds as Natalia’s blazing eyes scanned the crowd.
“Not. One. Step. Further.”