Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Five - Into Thin Air

“Bye bye!” I called out from the entrance, an arm waving above me.

Our new cervid friends weren’t so enthusiastic in their goodbyes, but then again, there were other cervid around, guards and servants, so maybe they were a bit embarrassed about such a public show of friendliness. A lot of people were like that.

I did my best to fight against such boring attitudes by being as loud and friendly as I could.

Once the three of them were back into the cervid embassy, we turned around and started heading back towards our inn. The evening was a bit chilly. The lowering sun and a few grey clouds above darkened the streets even as lamps were being lit to fight off the gloom. The extra light didn’t help against the creeping cold, though.

We hurried back, sometimes breaking out into little bits of jogging both to keep warm, and because it was fun to laugh and bounce around.

Big snowflakes started to drift down from above, and I found myself laughing as I danced around on the sidewalk. It attracted plenty of strange looks from the sylph, but this time, those looks were often accompanied by knowing smiles.

It took a good fifteen minutes to arrive at the base of the Dewdrop Inn, mostly because we took a wrong turn at some point. But a friendly city guard pointed us in the right direction.

The Inn welcomed us with warmth and the aroma of freshly cooked food. We raced up to the top floor, where the inn’s dining room was packed full of strangers digging into an early supper. I think we weren’t all that hungry, but the assault from so many tasty fragrance broke down our resistance and we ended up ordering a couple of meals to be sent up to our shared rooms before we retired for the night.

As soon as we were in our rooms, Amaryllis changed into a loose nightgown and sat down on the nearest couch, and I tossed off the more restrictive bits of my armour so that I was only in the gambeson beneath. I chucked off my shoes, then flopped back-first onto the sofa and placed my feet onto Amaryllis’ lap.

“Disgusting,” Amaryllis said. “You humans have such weird feet.”

I wiggled my toes at her. It was nice to relax my feet. It had been a busy day and my toes deserved a good wiggle. “Technically, these are bun feet. I think? Huh, I got a tail and ears, but I never really looked to see if my feet had changed.”

“Well, don’t ask me,” Amaryllis said. “I have proper talons.”

“What’s wrong with my feet?” I asked.

“Your nails could do with some trimming,” Awen said with a giggle.

“Another reason why talons are so much more superior than your fleshy little feet,” Amaryllis said. “Long talons are a sign that you’re healthy. They’re also a far superior weapon.”

“Compared to feet?” I asked. “But I can kick people with my feet. And stomp with them too.”

Amaryllis raised a leg, stretched it straight out, and flexed her talons. The sharpened bits were about as long as a hand and they ended on a wicked point. “I can gut someone with one of these. And who’s to say that a harpy can’t kick? Though, we are lighter, so perhaps you have the advantage with stomping.”

“Hmm, I wonder if I could get a class evolution that would give me talons,” I muttered.

Awen giggled. “We don’t need you to have talons and ears and a tail all at the same time,” she said. “You’d start to look like some sort of chimera.”

“A bunmera,” I said.

Amaryllis huffed the unamused huff of someone that had just heard an excellent pun but who was too snooty to admit that it was a great pun.

Someone knocked at the door, and I swung my legs around and bounced to my feet. “Food!” I cried. I still wasn’t hungry, but I knew that would change as soon as I had a plate or two set out before me.

I skipped over to the door and threw it open. “Uh. You’re not food.”

“I would sincerely hope not,” Princess Caprica said from the other side.

She stood flanked by two soldiers, both of whom seemed rather unimpressed by my greeting. I cleared my throat and stood taller. “Sorry about that! We were just, ah, expecting dinner. Wait, do you call it supper here? Anyway, come on in!”

Caprica chuckled and stepped in, her guards scanned the room from outside, then shuffled off to either side of the door and stood there at attention.

“Hello Amaryllis, Awen,” Caprica said. “I hope I’m not intruding?”

“Of course not,” I said. “We were just relaxing. We had a busy day today, and this is the first time we can just sit back and chill out.”

“I’m glad that you’re able to find some time for that,” Caprica said. “It’s important to balance work and relaxation. Do you mind if I sit?” she gestured to a loveseat across from the bigger sofa.

Awen sat where I’d been earlier, which left me a big spot between her and Amaryllis. I sat back down, then flopped onto my side so that I was resting my head on Awen and my feet were back on Amaryllis’s lap.

“Again? Do I look like a footstool?”

“You’re the prettiest footstool,” I said.

Caprica grinned. “I hope that your good mood means that everything went well?”

“Ah, so you’re here to see what we learned?” Amaryllis asked. She nodded, then started rubbing at her chin. “How familiar are you with the three cervid we met?”

“I never met them. I’ve read a few reports that mention them, but they weren’t exactly illuminating.”

“They were pretty nice,” I said. “Nathan’s quiet, but very dependable, and he feels like he’s aware of how strong he is and is a big softie because of it. He’s good friend material. And Ellie is good at reading people. And she knows a lot about fashion, and I think politics, too. She’s fun. Also good friend material. Rowan... wasn’t quite as nice as he could have been. He put himself first. But he’s clever and not mean, so he could be good friend material if you’re willing to be a good friend first.”

Amaryllis sighed. “You’re such a Broccoli.”

“What’s that even mean?”

“It means that you have the weirdest perception about the World that I have ever encountered,” Amaryllis said.

I rolled my eyes. There wasn’t too much I could do to change that, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to, besides. “Well, whatever. We have important things to tell Caprica. Like how Rowan was kinda-sorta a cervid spy.” One of Caprica’s eyebrows rose sharply. “A really bad one.”

“He’s a spy?” Caprica repeated.

“No, not a state-sanctioned spy,” Amaryllis said.

“States will rarely sanction spies,” Caprica said with obvious humour. “At least, I know that the spies we hire in Sylphfree are definitely not hired by us.”

“Didn’t you just... say that you hire them?” I asked.

Amaryllis sighed. “She means that no nation would admit to hiring anyone to spy on anyone else. Admitting it would be the fastest, and stupidest, way to get into diplomatic trouble with another nation.”

I groaned and pushed into Awen some more. “Awen, save me from all these political things. I just want to go on adventures and see new things and make friends.”

Awen patted me between the ears. “I’m sorry, Broc, but I think we need to take care of all of this stuff first. We can go on adventures after. Promise.”

Caprica chuckled. “I envy your ability to get away from it all. Maybe, one day... ah, but we should go over everything first. Miss Amaryllis, you seem the most... sensible when it comes to recounting events. Would you mind describing the day?”

I didn’t protest her calling Amaryllis better than me at storytelling. She was probably right. Amaryllis went over the day’s event, from meeting the cervid in their embassy, all the way to leaving them at the front of the embassy some hours later. She glossed over a lot of stuff, but spent a lot more time on things that I didn’t think were as important.

Caprica spent the entire time nodding, only asking a few small questions for clarity or to make sure she understood. She was a good listener, and asked a few good questions, especially about the Evil Roots once we explained those. “I see,” she said when Amaryllis was done at last. “Well, I... don’t think that Rowan is a proper spy. Just, perhaps, a misguided young man. I’ll make sure that no one overreacts if they learn of his little escapade. I’ll want to hear this stuff about Rainnewt myself, you know. I have the impression that I only have small bits of the story there.”

I nodded along. I had to blink a few times. Awen running her hand through my hair was making me sleepy. “He’s a mean person, and I don’t like him.”

“Strong words,” Caprica said. “Now, I didn’t come here just to bother you about your day spent with the cervid. Though I’m quite pleased with the results so far. I did have some news that might interest you.”

“Go on,” Amaryllis said.

“A harpy ship arrived in port this afternoon, with some delegates for the summit,” Caprica said. Amaryllis leaned forwards at the news. “Not the official ship, mind, just a smaller vessel with some nobles aboard. It apparently left after the primary diplomatic ship, which officially makes the absence of the primary diplomats... suspect.”

“Could it have been destroyed?” Amaryllis asked. “Or waylaid? I haven’t had time to look at any weather reports from the past weeks.”

“We don’t know,” Caprica said. “But because of who was onboard, the navy is sending out a taskforce to search along the route the ship was meant to take. Some are claiming pirates did it, but...”

“But that’s ridiculous. The ship had an escort. And it wasn’t unarmed either. The nobles onboard would have bodyguards, some of them would be skilled enough to put up a good fight--not just the bodyguards, but even the nobles. Quite a few of them would have second-tier combat classes.”

I frowned. “Maybe there were a lot of pirates?” I asked.

“I don’t think the sylph allow large groups of pirates to control the skies so close to their lands,” Amaryllis said. “There are few pirates that would be foolish enough to stay near the Harpy Mountains.”

“So there would need to be pirates over the Trenten Flats then,” Awen said.

“Which is possible. The Trenten Flats have an abysmal air force,” Amaryllis said. “But it’s still unlikely. No, I think we’re chasing the wrong rodent if we’re looking for pirates to explain things. Sabotage is far more likely.”

“How would you orchestrate it?” Caprica asked.

Amaryllis sniffed. “First, I wouldn’t. I’m a loyal citizen of the Harpy Mountains. Second, I would ensure that I have at least one subordinate on each ship. There are explosives that can be triggered with chemical timers. One onboard each vessel, next to their main gravity engine, and that would be it.”

Awen shook her head. “It wouldn’t be that easy. Some of those ships were military, right? They’d have backups. And they can still float with their balloons for a while. Maybe a large fire in each ship’s hold? With the right fuel, it could grow big enough faster than even a fire mage could control.”

Caprica hummed while touching her chin. “I suppose that would do it. A fire would leave less evidence as well. Though, with harpies on board, I can’t imagine none of them making it to the ground.”

“The sylph might be more accomplished flyers, but we can glide well enough,” Amaryllis agreed. “There should be lifeboats as well. And magic too.” she leaned back, eyes narrowing.

“You have an idea?” Caprica asked.

“Something of one, yes. If you were to leave a large group of nobles--with few supplies and no ships--stranded between here and the Harpy Mountains, where would you leave them?”

“That’s not something I can answer without looking at a map. And even then, I don't know the region intimately, so I'm not sure I could give an accurate assessment,” Caprica said. “But, I can see the point you’re trying to make, and I think it’s a good one.”

“Well, in any case, that’s where I would start looking first,” Amaryllis said.

***