Seven feet of trinkets, glittering talismans, and jewelry jingled towards Hueryss. The herald of Gris was hunched. His extremely tall, gaunt frame was covered with the black fur of a monstrous dire wolf. His eyes inspected the vibrant green ivy covering Hueryss's walls as he approached the gates. In the crisp warm morning air he shivered as he marched. His skin was pale like a man suffering from frostbite. The air fogged before him from a persistent emanating cold. His dark feverish eyes exuded an undeniable madness. Despite everything his heart still beat.
The gates of the beastkin city were approaching. The tall human watched the pair of guards tense up as he neared. Their weapons were drawn in fear as they watched the huge shivering man approach.
"Halt!" A guard called out to him. The man's intense gaze swept over the pair of beastkin guards before him. He proffered a deep regal bow to them, just as the laws of formality demanded. His long curling dark hair fell forward obscuring his face.
"State your business stranger!" The other guard barked.
"Goddess above. He looks like a corpse." The first guard said.
"Shut it!" The other guard barked. "Talk stranger! I don't like the feel of you! Speak before I stab you!" A smarmy smile wormed its way over the herald's mouth.
"As all lingering should." The human spoke. His voice was soft yet almost ethereal, like it belonged to the spirits itself. The man straightened his posture rising to meet the gaze of the guards. "I am Ian von Richter. Wearer of the von Richter family. Herald of Gris." The guards eyes went wide as they looked to each other for guidance. "I have come to ascertain the whereabouts of a certain Lilly von Erwenhest, the second of her name. My mission is at the behest of her distraught mother Rose von Erwenhest. Are you familiar with the name? Has the lady graced this city?"
The two guards were dumbfounded. They kept waiting for the other to take hold of the situation.
"May I enter? You have nothing to fear from me. I have only come to find her and express personally her mother's disappointment in her actions. Her last known location placed her here. I assure you I mean no harm. As a herald I am forbidden to enact violence upon the living unless attacked first. May I enter?" Ian repeated. A practiced diplomatic smile crept upon his lips as he looked at the two terrified guards. The two guards stood still like statues. The man's smile faded into a long drawn out sigh. Instinctively he knew the beastkin would be of little help. The herald walked forward. The spear point of the first guard's halberd moved on its own accord. The metal moved out of the way allowing the man entry. The other guard jumped away leaving the gate completely open. The guard's shivered as a biting cold suddenly hit them. Walking past the guards, Ian von Richter's long legs carried him into Hueryss.
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"Should we have done that?" One of the guards asked.
"Done what? I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't met any strange seven foot tall humans! I'm pretty sure I would have remembered if I did!"
"Should we have let him in?"
"No idea what you're talking about, I haven't seen any seven foot tall creeps. No idea. And neither did you." The other guard blinked as he finally understood.
"Yup. Definitely didn't see that. Completely snuck right past us. Probably climbed the walls when we weren't looking."
"Good. Good. Drinks on me later."
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"Family is everything." Ian muttered to himself. He stood before a ruined inn. The entire second story of the inn had been pulled down. Faint remnants of dark magic filled the air. Something pulled on his arm from within his fur jacket. Looking over, he could see beastkin lingering and watching him. The look of fear mixed with curiosity upon their countenance. Ian ignored them. His mission demanded answers and these simple beastkin would offer him little. That is assuming they would even speak with him. Another tug on his arm directed his attention down the road. The persistent tug from his bracelet hinted at a clue nearby. Following it, Ian followed the trail of destruction.
Guards were following him at a considerable distance as he made his way down the road. Fire, destruction, and dark magic painted a canvas of battle. The herald of Gris's mind wandered as he mused about the possibilities. A tunnel had been created between a pile of rubble and debris. Ian followed the trail as if it was the most natural path in the world.
A lingering hint of death called him forward. Standing still, he looked around. A particular pool of dried blood stained the streets. Dark magic cloaked the area mixing with a strong creature's dead aura.
"What happened here? Mother? Father?" Ian asked as he closed his eyes. His mind ran through a thousand different possibilities as he tried to understand the dead aura that hung nearby. What was this dark magic? A curse perhaps? Or something more desperate? Was it the remnants of a final stand? Whose soul was released back into the aether? Was the pool of blood from the slain foe? Whose blood was it? A thousand questions bounced through his mind with no obvious answer.
Ian's mind reviewed his known information. The lady Lilly von Erwenhest II escaped her home with her loyal maidservant. A prodigy necromancer also went missing at the same time, presumably for a similar reason. Lilly took a flying carriage past the Grissian border on a mad quest. She sought to kill a newly anointed champion of Freyes. Lilly had covered her tracks well. It took weeks to track down the seer that provided the lady the divination. Her last known location placed her in this city. Ian shook his head from side to side.
"Pure madness." He muttered. A shiver overtook him as he returned to reality. Lilly and her maidservant had been here. Ian was sure of it. Now, he just needed to find her before it was too late.