Hello, Everyone!
Last time, our heroes teleported in Zerakas tol and met Aurum’s… ‘fling’ – the beautiful (and kinda bitchy) Reina Lavore. She and Mary had a verbal cat fight (for the amusement of Bruno and Agatha) and then everyone got dressed to go to Francesca Findabair’s palace.
They headed out a couple of minutes later. Reina attached herself to Aurum’s arm and started leading them through the city. The two of them talked and giggled at every inside joke they shared, and the bard kept turning to the others to point at a place and tell them all about the fun times he’d had there.
It was usually related to spending the money from their joint bank account on something frivolous. Bruno was not happy.
But the city was wondrous! Mary’s eyes soaked in the white buildings, polished to perfection, the sparkling shop windows filled with neatly arranged items, the clean avenues, wider than any street in Pamagos or Frinkeltong. And the people! They were all so happy and care-free, walking around with the air of being in the safest city in the world.
Mary remembered traversing the streets of Ekoba just a few weeks ago, and shuddered at the unintentional comparison. They were probably at war now, the streets empty and messy, and the people gloomy and afraid.
The smell of springflowers and freshly baked goods took her out of her worried thoughts. Warm breeze was passing through the city, bringing all sorts of pleasant smells. It was almost spring-like. The sun hung low in the sky and there was no cloud visible anywhere.
Except for one.
It stood above the streets, glistening in the sunlight, so white that it was almost silver. On it, an impossible castle lay. With white walls and towers of gold, it reflected the sun and brought it down to the city in a cluster of brilliant rays.
“Let’s hire some gryphons,” Aurum said. “They’ll get us to Francesca’s faster.”
They headed to an elevated nest-like stable house, with an elder human caretaker who greeted them on the outside. He was trotting along, showing them the available gryphons, and his wooden leg knocked on the floor with every second step. Mary couldn’t take her eyes off of it. She could have been like this, if it hadn’t been for Granny Gretel's magic!
“So, how many would ya like?” he said. “Two can ride on the same one, three if ya’re skinnier. Like, the two ladies and the gent may fit onto one,” he added, pointing to Aurum, Reina and Mary.
“Agatha is way thinner than I am,” Mary said quickly.
“Oh, yeah,” the tabaxi said, grinning. “Let me get with those two. We’ll make each other company aaall the way up to the castle.”
Reina looked like she’d just eaten a lemon.
“No need for that,” she said. “We can have three gryphons, I’ll take care of the fee.”
She took three platinum pieces out of her coin purse (like it was nothing), and handed them to the caretaker. He grinned and led them to three large beasts--white eagle heads and strong lion bodies, and wings that spread wide in the open space above.
“My name is Raja,” the one Mary and Bruno approached spoke. “Is this your first time on a griffon?”
This was weird. Gryphons weren’t usually as talkative. Like, not at all. What Mary had read about them, they were wild beasts, dangerous and agressive. She glanced at the caretaker’s missing leg and swallowed hard. But then, everyone else stepped towards their gryphons and she did the same. She didn’t want to be considered a coward.
However, she had a difficult time figuring out how to ride Raja. She’d never ridden a horse--let alone anything else--with a long dress on, and she stole a quick glance at Reina to see how she was going to do it. The girl was a natural, her legs gracefully hanging on one side of the beast and her arms wrapped around Aurum’s waist.
Mary thought of the ride towards Pamagos after Perjurio’s death, and the way she’d held on to the bard on the back of her horse. Then, she had a disheartening thought. If Lanurey had indeed been with them at the time, would Aurum ride with Mary, or would he share a horse with his past lover? Maybe… the memory of his smell and the way his hair tickled her nose had been nothing but a figment of her imagination?
The three gryphons took off above the streets. The one with Agatha quickly gathered speed and started making dangerous circles and loops around the others. Mary’s heart leapt into her throat. Raja wouldn't do the same to them, right?
Her eyes followed the other gryphon’s maneuvers and she realised that it was actually Agatha that was pushing the beast to fly like that. She was yelling “Again! Do it again!”
So, it wasn’t necessarily the flying that was dangerous. It was the tabaxi. Mary breathed in and out and forced her muscles to relax.
From this height, the city looked almost like a circle, surrounded by its white walls. Smaller defensive structures divided it into about twenty or so districts. Zerakas tol was built on a tall rock stack, once the end of a headland on the Misty Sea shore. Legend said that long ago, upon founding the city, Francesca Findabair tore it off from the mainland to make it more easily defendable. Right now, its only connections to the continent consisted of three enormous bridges.
A strange feeling passed through Mary’s whole body, like a shiver travelling from her head to her toes. She shuddered and saw that they’d just passed a bubble-like barrier around the city. Here, the magic of the everlasting spring was gone, and the air got very cold very quickly. Fortunately, the flight ended only a few moments later, in a landing platform on the impossible cloud. Wide glimmering staircase rose up towards the castle doors, and currently, a butler was drifting down towards them.
He greeted Aurum and Reina and asked for the reason of their visit. While the bard was talking--he didn’t say anything about the dragon, only about the urgency of their quest--the man spoke an incantation and waved a hand towards them.
“There is no deception here,” he ascertained. “You may come in.”
Through the gates, they came to a large waiting room with portraits of the Empire’s rulers mounted on the walls. The butler left the group there and continued to the next door.
Looking at the portraits, Mary remembered Trax’rion’s words. “Zerakiel is dead,” he’d said. ”Only I will rule." But why would he mention Zerakiel, of all people? He was Erathos’ first Emperor, his time had ended hundreds of years ago!
Mary walked by the line of paintings but didn’t find Emperor Zerakiel in it. There were only about eight generations of his successors’ portraits hanging on the walls. All of them were men, wide-shouldered and strong, with long hair the colour of wheat, and grey, almost metallic eyes with yellow dots sprinkled around the pupils.
‘He has his grandfather’s eyes,’ she remembered Lady Kaire saying a long time ago, speaking about Edmund Bright. Mary had found it a very strange thing to mention, but she could see now that these eyes were indeed something special.
Soo, we’re in the castle now. Can’t wait to meet the Boy Emperor and see if his eyes are indeed so special! Do you think Mary's going to like him?
See you next time and find out!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide, the Glossaries (Part 1 and Part 2)
and the Map for the series. You're welcome!)
An important disclaimer: Mary Windfiddle's story is my notes from a D&D game turned into a narrative. All the worldbuilding and NPC encounters belong to our DM, and all the actions of the other main characters (Aurum, Bruno and Agatha) belong to my co-players. My contribution to the story is only everything Mary-related (actions, reactions, inner thoughts), as well as the writing itself.