Yas̆gah watched in silence as the strange creature departed. Lamas̆tu. She’d lived long enough to meet nearly every type of being that walked these lands at least once or twice. Well, not counting whatever lay across the eastern oceans.From there, she’d heard rumors occasionally of great beings like the Us̆umgallu, but the only communications the western lands had with the east was in the form of occasional survivors who’d floated untold fathoms from shipwrecks, and a handful of unsuccessful trade missions that were so long in the past that, even when she had been a child herself, they had seemed nearly mythical.

Thus Yas̆gah couldn’t deny that it had brought her a bit of pleasure to run into something new. Novelty was fun, and was probably the only reason she’d allow the deceitful creature to live. As the little wolf departed, her faithful servant stepped out of the shadows from where he’d been watching.

“Do you think she can be trusted?” She turned to stare at the seraph, whose long grey hair flowed freely down around the staff he leaned on for support. The robe the old warrior wore hid his missing right leg and the mangled, twisted ruins of his left, but he was not as crippled as it seemed - many an enemy had made the mistake of underestimating Kurkuzan mere moments before he’d bashed their skulls in with his enchanted cudgel.

A smile lit her face. “No. I don’t think she can be trusted at all. Her mental defenses are much too good for someone who has nothing to hide. But…” she shrugged, “she can try whatever scheme she pleases; she is far too weak to harm me.”

The old Seraph huffed. “Are you sure, my lady? I can rid you of her, just to be safe.”

“No.” The demigoddess voice raised near to a screech. “I told you to leave her alone. She’s a curiosity, not a danger.”

Mutiny roiled in his eyes, but the Seraph bowed his head in submission. “Very well, my lady. And what of the dead gods? Do you truly intend to hunt them?”

Reaching into her bodice, Yas̆gah pulled out the fulcrum of all her plans. For millennia, she’d searched for a way to break the barrier between immortal and divine that Gemlir had floundered upon. She’d even began to despair herself of her own search, as the centuries had slipped by with nothing to show but one failed scheme after another.

Until she’d heard of the Naḫas̆s̆innu. At first, the tale had seemed like just another story about an ancient city destroyed by a mysterious curse. In a world so close to its dying breath, there were enough cities like that to be barely remarkable, and thus Yas̆gah foolishly ignored it for many, many years until one day, in a blessed turn of fate, she’d decided to research it out of sheer boredom.

It was the dead gods that had caught her attention.The majority of the Mwyranni had been extinguished before her time, eons before the establishment of the Empire, but she’d still run into a few survivors from time to time and even clashed with them.So she knew all too well what a monumental task it was to even consider killing one of them - how the Sidhe had slaughtered them, she’d never been able to tell.

Thus Yas̆gah had been intrigued by the story of a city plagued by undead Mwyranni. Something had killed not just one of them, but an entire group, an overwhelming powerful alliance of beings, and given the city’s location, the murderer had likely not been a Sidhe. Driven by curiosity, she’d investigated the site. It took a while before she realized the true magnitude of what she’d discovered.

She still didn’t know who had killed the Mwyranni, but she hadn’t cared once she’d seen how they’d done it - once she’d seen the dagger. The foolish inhabitants of the pit thought it the name of their city, but Yas̆gah knew the minute she’d laid eyes on the strange, fang-like dagger that glittered with an unnatural light that this was the true Naḫas̆s̆innu - the serpent’s tooth. And when she’d held it in her hands, she’d known she’d found her path to divinity.

The Seraph shrank back as Yas̆gah held the dagger up in the light. His knuckled turned white and he clung to his staff so tightly that the ancient pavement stone of the temple cracked beneath the stress, but he resisted its lure. Only when the temptation had passed, did he dare look up at his mistress.

A wicked smile rested on her lips as she brandished the dagger. “Oh yes, I shall hunt them, Kurkuzan, and I shall slay them anew. The last wielder of Naḫas̆s̆innu failed to finish the dead, but I shall remain of every last drop of power. And then, when my old mistress comes, I shall drain her to.”

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“And if she brings aid,” the Seraph dared to ask. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the old warrior flying into the wall, creating a cloud of dust and rubble.

“If she brings aid, then I shall slay them too,” Yas̆gah snarled. “Do you not understand, Kurkuzan? I shall kill them all. And when all the gods have fallen beneath my blade, then I shall do what my old mistress hasn’t the guts to do - to slay the Progenitor and put an end to his fetters. All shall be mine, Kurkuzan. Do you dare to doubt me?”

A light of mania shone in her eyes, and the Seraph hastened to press his forehead to the ground. “No, my lady. Forgive me.” He half expected to feel the knife pass between his shoulders but as the moments of silence stretched on, he eventually realized she’d had forgiven him. Picking himself up, he retrieved his crutch and brushed the dust off his clothes. There was no sign of Yas̆gah in the temple, and he pondered whether he should ignore her instructions and kill that woman - Barbartu, was it? - anyway. Perhaps if I hadn’t angered her. Against his better judgment, he decided to let the threat stand. What harm can she get up to anyway?

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As they rode out of the gates of Rā’imu’s enclave an hour later, Jasper couldn’t help but marvel at the Moon-kissed’s efficiency.

The Djinn had woken up early that morning to meet with the elders and they, sure to his word, had agreed to offer them assistance. That alone would have been enough to impress him; since arriving in Corsythia, he’d met far too few people who actually upheld their word, and in all honesty, he’d expected the elders to refuse, or at least drag their feet. A favor was such a vague promise, after all.

Thus, he’d been absolutely blown away when they not only agreed to his request but did so promptly.The three of them, plus Rā’imu who, despite Is̆mah’s pleas had insisted on going, were not departing alone.A hundred men followed behind them, dressed in the colorful Irish-green tunics of the House of the Third Sun and wielding a mixture of spears and bows.The elders had even sent along two mages, whose power bolstered their ranks far more than mere numbers could represent.The group was a well-trained machine, marching in near unison despite the heavy snow that still covered the roads.Frankly, the whole thing put the Seraphs to shame.

A shadow fell over his heart as he thought of them. Despite the way they’d separated, he hoped Abnu and his men would be okay but, either way, he doubted he’d ever see them again. Perhaps it’s for the best, he mused. It’s hard to forget they let one of their own try to kill me.

The snow slowed their progress as they marched to Dūr-Yarha, and thus they were unable to reach the shelter of its walls before night fell. Jasper didn’t sleep a wink that night, afraid of a repeat of their night attack. Instead, he slowly rotated between the guards that the Moon-kissed had set to keep watch over their game. It was a long, cold night, but the sun rose without incident. After packing up, the group resumed their march.

They were stopped temporarily at the gate by the city guard who were, perhaps understandably, concerned about a squad of a hundred-plus armed soldiers entering the city. But the elders had thought of that too. Rā’imu produced a letter sealed with their signets and, after a brief perusal, the captain of the guard waved them through.

They wound through the bustling streets of Dūr-Yarha, slowly fighting through the crowd the filled the rich market districts that clustered around the gates of the city. The traffic eased as they left the markets behind and ventured into the residential areas. Here, the quality of the homes quickly dropped off until they once again reached the old, faded district in which the entrance to Naḫas̆s̆innu crouched.

It was then that Jasper led them into a side street and signaled for the group to stop.

“What’s the holdup?” Ihra asked as she sidled Keresh next to him.

“He is going to send scouts.See if they’re waiting for us,” Nēs̆u replied, and Jasper nodded his head.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. With a group this big, subtlety’s kind of out of the picture, but it would be good to know if we’re walking into a trip. Hell, if we’re lucky, maybe we can catch them by surprise.”

He turned to Rā’imu. “Any of these guys scouts?”

The Djinn shrugged.“I’m afraid I haven’t spent much time with our retainers.You’d have to ask them yourself.”

He doesn’t even know their warriors? The dude’s going to get himself killed. Ignoring the pulse of worry that flickered in his heart, Jasper turned to face the men gathered around them and raised his voice. “Are any of you scouts? We think our targets are holed up in Naḫas̆s̆innu, but we’re pretty sure they don’t know we’re coming. We’d like to keep it that way.”

A few hands went up, and Jasper waved them forward. After a moment two men and a woman pushed their way to the front.

Surprisingly, it was the youngest of them who stepped forward as their leader. “Our House doesn’t have dedicated scouts, my lord, but when it comes to the hunters in our clan, we’re as good as any,” the man declared. "Even a shalgu would be hard pressed to find us."

Jasper stared dubiously at the young man, who looked barely old enough to grow some peach fuzz on his chin, and the man grinned back, positively brimming with confidence.“Don’t worry -they’ll never even know they were there, my lord,” he promised.

Impressed by the Djinn’s ebullience, Jasper couldn’t help but grin back. “Alright, just scout it out and return to us. If there are any guards, don’t try to take them out - we don't want them to raise the alarm.”

The scout agreed and, followed by the other two volunteers, headed down the road that led toward Naḫas̆s̆innu’s entrance. Then all that remained was to wait on their return.