Chapter 418: In Hindsight

Tauri sat with her knees up at the edge of the campfire and listened to Plum’s words in silence. As Plum’s story went on Tauri’s face grew more sullen and her amber eyes troubled.

“...And that’s when First Mother led us here and left to ‘deal with the rest’ or so she said,” Plum finished. She scratched her cheek nervously and turned to her old teacher. “It all sounds crazy, I know.”

“...Not really. Surprising for sure, but not crazy.” Tauri chuckled weakly, “It makes sense I suppose. Our Ebon Aspirant is the son of an Ebon Lady.”

Plum nodded. “It’s somewhat rare but there are records in the library about children who fully inherited the magical talents of their Ebon Lord parents. The part I’m struggling to believe is how Stryg might actually be related to House Veres.”

“There isn’t anything to struggle with. That is without doubt Krikolm,” Tauri pointed to the crimson sword lying next to Stryg. “When I heard Stryg mention the blade drinking blood the thought crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed it since the sword wasn’t the right color. But now, well, I have seen paintings of that sword hanging in art galleries since I was a child. That blade is bonded to House Veres’ bloodline and its bloodline alone. The fact alone that Stryg can wield Krikolm means he is a Veres.”

“Stryg Veres, huh… Has a ring to it I guess,” Plum smiled wryly.

“Ring…” Tauri abruptly cursed to herself, “Dammit, I knew that ring looked familiar!”

“What are you talking about?”

“The ring! The one First Mother gave Stryg before we left the Blood Fang village. It’s made of orichalcum and has a ruby with a crest etched on it. I knew it looked familiar! It’s the signet ring of House Veres’s family leader. It’s depicted in every painting of the old Lords and Ladies of House Veres.”

“First Mother said it belonged to Stryg’s birth mother and that she would have wanted him to have it…” Plum sighed to herself, “I guess she wasn’t lying about that.”

“Krikolm is the ancestral weapon of House Veres. It is only given to the head of the family. Coupled with the fact that Stryg has the signet ring too… He has to be part of the main Veres bloodline,” Tauri said darkly.

“You say that like it’s a problem.”

“Maybe it is. The main bloodline of House Veres was said to have died out centuries ago. If Stryg were to claim his ancestry, then…”

“Things might get messy,” Plum guessed.

“To put it lightly,” Tauri grimaced.

“Well, that’s just one more of the countless problems we can leave for another time. For now, we just need to get out of this place in one piece.”

“Agreed, but we can’t leave without First Mother and we still don't know where she ran off to or flew off to, I guess.”

“Do you think First Mother and the chieftain bite people too?” Plum wondered. “Or is that just a Stryg thing?”

“Trust me, it’s definitely a vampire thing. Those bloodthirsty idiots can’t keep their fangs to themselves. Have you seen a party of them get drunk? It’s like a goddamn orgy, just a lot more blood,” Tauri shivered.

“I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure,” Plum said dryly.

Tauri glanced at the unconscious blue goblin resting next to them. Blossom’s white petals were wrapped cozily around him, but his face was still exposed. He would occasionally grimace in pain as if he was having a nightmare. She couldn’t see it, but she knew underneath the petal cloak his body was riddled with terrible injuries.

With a warm hand, Tauri reached out and brushed her fingers across his cheek. His expression tensed for a moment then relaxed.

“He even looks like her,” Tauri whispered. “I suppose that’s why she dyed her hair. The less they looked alike the better. She really wanted to keep it a secret.”

“The question is why?”

“I think we both already know the answer, you said it yourself. She made an oath.”

“To Lunae?” Plum asked skeptically. “Do you really believe everything First Mother said? That Lunae, a goddess, adopted Stryg as her own?”

Tauri shrugged. “I’ve witnessed some crazy things these last few years.”

Plum frowned. “Like what?”

“...When we were traveling to the tourney at Undergrowth a dragon attacked us at the edge of Glimmer Grove forest. We were helpless to stop it. I thought we were all going to die. Then a silver pillar of light fell from the sky and slew the beast in an instant.”

Plum’s eyes widened in shock. “Pillar of light…? Like the ones in the story the high priestess Virella talked about? When Lunae intervened and saved the Lunisian armies from the Ebon Lords?”

“I believe so,” Tauri nodded grimly. “If whatever happened to that dragon isn’t divine intervention then I do not know what is.”

“But why would a goddess intervene on the behalf of some Hollow Shad—?” Plum stopped in mid-sentence and slowly looked at Stryg. “She wasn’t intervening for any of you… she was protecting him.”

“Last year, on the night of the red moon, the warlord Marek had ambushed Stryg and the other students on Widow’s Crag. Stryg was severely injured and he had fallen off the cliffside. We later found him surrounded by Frost Wolves near the river shoreline.”

“The Sylvan believe frost wolves are the servants of Lunae…”

“And I’m beginning to believe that the red moon that night was not a coincidence.”

“If you’re right, then what does that mean for him? Or us?” Plum whispered worriedly.

“I think it means we should think very carefully about what we tell Stryg regarding First Mother and Lunae.”

“Stryg deserves to know the truth. He deserves to know who his mother really is. He deserves that at the very least.”

“...You’re right. But I don’t think either of us wants to risk incurring the wrath of an ebon goddess. As I said, we need to be very careful about how we approach this. For all our sakes.”

~~~

It was a few hours later when Jahn heard the sound of a breeze in the deep tunnels of Grimstone.

Jahn looked up and smiled, “Welcome back.” He leaned on his spear and pushed himself to his feet, before stepping aside from the doorway.

Aurelia walked into the cellar, dragging two unconscious young frost trolls behind her with her shadow tendrils. Her yellow eyes darted across the room, taking in the surroundings, before finally settling on Stryg in the corner. Her stern expression relaxed and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Srixa and the few other hunters that were awake bowed their heads to her in silent acknowledgement.

“Um, so who are they?” Jahn looked pointedly at the trolls.

“Life-long hostages,” Aurelia said.

“I take it you found the queen then?”

“I did. Our battle with the frost trolls is over for now. Take whatever meat you can from this cellar. We leave Grimstone tonight.”

“Our people are exhausted, sister,” Jahn whispered. “Half of them are still unconscious, the rest can barely even walk. We lost most of our supplies in the river, including medicine. We need to rest.”

“All the more reason we must leave Grimstone. The mountain is still infested with skolguls. It will take some time before the trolls can clear them out. Until then, they cannot defend these outer tunnels, especially after their losses.”

“Losses?” It was only now that Jahn noticed his sister’s clothes were dyed red in the dim light. “I see… Our fallen warriors can rest in peace.”

Aurelia nodded silently. “...Grab what food you can. I’ll help carry the ones who cannot walk.”

Jahn worriedly glanced at his sister’s worn-out appearance. “How much of your magic have you used?”

“Jahn, I’m fine.”

“You need to rest. You’re not invincible. If you keep casting spells so freely at this rate your body will overheat and you’ll collapse.”

“I said I’m fine.” Aurelia snapped at him and immediately regretted her words when she noticed the anxiety in her brother’s eyes. She sighed, “The moment we’re outside the mountain’s cavern we’ll set up camp and rest, I promise.”

Jahn nodded, satisfied. “I’ll let the others know.”

~~~

The cold sea breeze blew across the Lazy Lady’s deck. Most of the crew were drows or vampires, but even they pulled their jackets a little closer at the frigid touch of the wind.

Callum tried his best not to shiver in front of the sailors and failed miserably. He blamed his human half for his lack of resistance to the cold, though if he was being honest with himself, he simply had never been forced to weather the elements. His life was spent mostly in the comforts of lavish halls and opulent gardens.

Tired of listening to the muttering jeers of the sailors, Callum made his way to the quarterdeck at the back of the ship and spent his time watching the sun drift below the horizon.

It had been a day since they had set off from land. Fortunately, they hadn’t encountered any problems since. Though he knew that wouldn’t last. Captain Greyson had warned them that they would soon be sailing into the bay’s fog.

Every child in the Northern Lands knew of the mystical fog of Hoarfrost Bay and the strange things sailors saw within. Every smart sailor would avoid the fog-infested waters if they could, unless, of course, gold was involved. And Callum had made sure to pay the crew plenty of gold.

Yet once again Callum was wondering to himself if this trip was a good idea. Perhaps he should have stayed at the harbor. There were plenty of taverns around. He could have gone to the nicest one and spent his time with some lovely ladies while waiting for Lysaila and Kithina to return.

“...As if,” he sighed to himself.

He’d never be able to live with himself if he had left them to face untold dangers by themselves. Even if his chromatic colors weren’t particularly strong in combat, he could still be of help. Or at least he hoped.

“There you are,” a friendly voice called out.

Callum didn’t turn around. He knew who the familiar voice belonged to and though he wouldn’t admit it, it brought him great comfort to know she was nearby. “Evening, Kitty.”

“What are you doing all the way over here?” Kithina walked over to the guardrails next to him and tried to rest her arms on them but she was too small, and instead, she settled on resting her chin on top.

The whole thing seemed absurdly funny and adorably cute at the same time but he was quite certain she’d send him overboard if he commented on it. Before, Kithina used to blush and smile whenever he complimented her, now it only seemed to pain her, if not outright annoy her.

He supposed he deserved that. He deserved much worse. He had led her on and had made light of her feelings. She should have tossed him overboard long ago. Yet here she was, making sure he was still okay.

“Have you gotten tired of Lysaila yet?” Callum asked.

“Meh, she’s sparring with some of the sailors. You can only watch so much before getting bored of seeing her wipe the floor with them.”

“Really?”

“No,” Kithina grinned. “I couldn’t stop laughing as she smacked those idiots around.”

“Now I regret not being there.”

“Unfortunately the sparring matches will have to wait. Captain Greyson says we're coming up on some fog and that he wanted the two of us nearby in case anything happened.”

“Is that right?” Callum would much rather stay below deck while sailing through the fog but he understood why the captain had given the order. It would only hurt the crew’s morale if the only two mages on board hid below deck.

He looked back and saw the wall of fog encroaching towards the bow of the ship. A shiver ran down his spine though if it was from the cold breeze or from sheer fear he didn’t want to know.