“Wow. The capital is a lot bigger than I thought.”
Jadis stared at the looming towers of the citadel built into the river mouth their ship was steadily approaching. The sun was setting in the west behind the ship, so the city was brightly lit with the blue backdrop of evening sky. They were on the southwestern coast of the mainland, or so Jadis had heard, though since she’d only ever seen a few maps in passing she didn’t really have much context for where they were located in the world.
The mouth of the river they were approaching was wide, maybe a mile across, with a small island in roughly the middle. On the north side of the river stood a massive, towering castle with walls a hundred feet tall at least. A city had been built up around the castle with layered walls spreading outward encompassing the hive of urban activity. The city docks along the river coast were immense, the sails of hundreds of ships of all sizes visible in the dying light.
The southern shore had another, smaller city built up along the river bank. There were more docked ships on that side of the river, though not as numerous. The southern city had smaller walls and no towering castle, either. What it did have were farms. Even with the daylight fading Jadis could see miles upon miles of farms and orchards radiating out into the plains and hills with the city as its focal point.
The island in the middle of the river mouth had a lighthouse built out from it. Jadis had been to the Statue of Liberty once when she was a child and this lighthouse was bigger by far. A great golden light shone from the top of the tower, not rotating but simply lighting up the sky like a beacon. As she was watching the beautiful light, Jadis saw a winged figure leap off from the top of the tower and take flight, heading towards the city.
Had that been a Seraphim? Jadis had seen Jack take the form of one in the past, so she knew they looked like angelic beings. Spotting the one lit a certain amount of excitement in Jadis’ chest. She’d like to meet a real angel, not just a shape changing pervert pretending to be one.
“No, that’s Glitnir. The capital is going to be another few days up the river.”
“Really?” Jay asked, startled by Kerr’s casual explanation. “But, this place looks huge! And this isn’t even the capital?”
“Nope,” Kerr shrugged as she cut off a slice of apple with a knife and ate it. “Glitnir is kind of big, I guess. A lot of foreign imports and imperial exports come through here. But it’s hardly the biggest city I’ve visited in the empire. Top ten, maybe.”
“Really?” Jay repeated, still surprised. “What if you count outside of the empire?”
“Oh, definitely not top ten. It might edge in to the top twenty, but I’d have to think about that.”
Wow. Never before had Jadis felt like such a country rube. She would have thought that her experiences back on Earth would have inured her to the sight of large cities, yet here she was gawping at a city that wasn’t even in Kerr’s top twenty for size.
Jadis had always thought that medieval cities were limited in their size, both due to smaller populations and issues with infrastructure. But those were expectations based on her old world’s history. This was Oros. There were different rules in play.
While she’d never asked how old the Empire of Alfhilderunn was, Jadis knew from context that the country had been around for a long, long time. It had at the very least been around when her species, the Nephilim, had died out over two thousand years ago. Jadis imagined most continuous empires would probably have large populations, especially considering the lifespans of people in general were probably pretty long when they weren’t being killed by demons. People weren’t so likely to die from sickness and diseases when there were clerics and priests running around who could clear up those issues with a simple spell.
Infrastructure was probably a lot different, too. Magic was real. Enchantments in the right places could make all the difference in terms of working water and sewer utilities. In fact, that probably had somewhat to do with why Oros was stuck in a mostly medieval technology level. Why evolve technologically when levels and magic were pulling all the weight?
Regardless of the reasons behind the huge city, Jadis would simply have to get used to the size. She wasn’t going to walk around looking like some hapless tourist.
Maybe only a little bit of sightseeing.
A touch.
“Are we going to stop here for the night?” Bridget asked, voicing a question that Jadis had simply assumed. “Or will we keep going straight on to Eldingholt?”
“I would guess we’ll be stopping,” Aila answered from where she leaned into Dys’ side. “Though I’m not sure they’ll let us get off the ship. Jadis is in custody. Supposedly.”
Dys snorted at Aila’s statement.
“Only because I’m playing nice.”
All three of Jadis’ bodies as well as her many companions were standing around the prow of the Rising Dawn, discussing the city they were approaching. No one else wanted to be below deck anymore than Jadis did now that their sea voyage was almost over. The trip had been a lot worse for everyone else than it had been for Jadis. At least in her case it had felt quick, even if she had been in a lot of pain. For everyone else, the past two weeks had been the excruciating boredom of sailing on a ship with precious few diversions.
“Eugh,” Jadis overheard Sorcha say to Sabina, the two women standing next to each other. “This is where I was recruited to join the Roiling Reavers. Biggest regret of my life. I tell ya, never agree to join up with strangers looking for adventure that you meet in a dark tavern. It never ends well.”
“I don’t know about that,” Sabina replied, her head lying on her crossed arms set on the ship’s rails. “Your misadventure brought you here to join up with us, didn’t it? That’s a pretty good end, isn’t it?”
“Sab. I’m a felon,” Sorcha pointed at her tracking armlet with a deadpan expression. “This isn’t exactly ideal.”
While the tanned smith devolved into a stumbling and awkward babble of words, Jadis readjusted her focus to the conversation happening between Thea and Tegwyn.
“So there is a Dryad grove near your hometown?” Tegwyn was asking the shy brunette, one hand rubbing at his chin. “Is this Cold Brook far from the capital?”
“Ah, no, I d—don’t think there is a grove, like where you are f—from,” Thea shook her head. “Just one D—Dryad. In the Brenna Woods. That’s, uh, maybe three days from the c—capital with how fast we travel. She’s, ah, p—probably still there. My m—mother told me stories of seeing, um, the Dryad when she was a child. Her mother, ah, too. She’s probably b—been there for a hundred years.”
“Hm,” Tegwyn’s expression turned contemplative as he tilted his head to one side. “Well, I do not mind older women. I would like to meet this Dryad. She may be just the woman I am looking for to start my own grove!”
While Thea flushed pink at the horned man’s unabashedly forward statement of intent, Eir perked up and joined the conversation. Her purple eyes looked bright in the evening light as she regarded the Dryad.
“I did not realize you were so interested in having children,” the priestess commented. “Or do you simply mean to recruit her to your own cause?”
Tegwyn shrugged one shoulder and made a face.
“I am not sure. I am not opposed to the idea of having a few saplings, but it is no pressing need that I feel. But I would like to start a community of my own. A place to grow and nurture nature. A refuge for the wild, but also a space for those who wish to learn more about the plants and beasts of the world. That would be a fine thing, indeed.”
“Ah, I see,” Eir looked slightly disappointed, though her expression quickly turned curious. “If not children of your own, then it sounds like you are interested in passing on your knowledge to a younger generation. Not just other Dryads, I presume?”
“Yes, indeed!” Tegwyn let out a cheerful laugh. “I’ve no desire to stay far and away from the comings and goings of the rest of Oros like my father, no disrespect intended. I see no reason the Children of Villthyrial cannot take a more active role in the lives of greater society.”
Jadis had known Tegwyn was looking to hook up with Dryads from places other than Weigrun, but she’d never known about the man’s other plans. The idea of a Dryad grove that was more closely linked to society intrigued Jadis. She wasn’t sure what that would look like exactly, but she imagined the Dryads had a lot to share about wild beasts, both mundane and magical, that would be of great benefit to the people of Oros.
Other than Tegwyn’s ideas, something that Thea had said piqued Jadis’ interest. Thea had said that her hometown, Cold Brook, was only a few days away from the capital, at least going by Jadis speeds. Thea had a family. Jadis knew that conceptually, of course, but since she and Thea were both in Weigrun and the guardswoman’s family was so far away, she’d not given too much thought to the idea of meeting them. Now, however, they were going to be in relatively easy reach.
Thea wasn’t the only one, either. Aila was from a place called Red Tree. Jadis doubted her lanky lover’s hometown was all that far from where they were going, either. And Eir? Well, she was from a noble elven family. They might even have a home in the capital. If that were the case, it seemed as though meeting her family on this trip was inevitable.
Kerr’s clan was in the Verdant Sea, wherever that was, and Jadis wasn’t sure where Bridget and Sabina’s families were from. Sorcha, though, was apparently from somewhere near Glitnir. Would any of them want to take trips to see their family? Jadis kind of hoped they would. The more she thought about it, the more she was getting excited at the idea of meeting the loved ones of her loved ones.
As Jadis distractedly contemplated what meeting a whole family of Sabinas might be like, some motion against Syd caught her attention.
Alex, still hanging off Syd’s shoulders like the world’s fleshiest cape, had raised her head from where she’d had it nestled against Syd’s neck and was staring to the left. Or, port, Jadis supposed, since they were on a ship after all.
“Asshole…”
“What?” Syd asked, startled by the Demon’s sudden explicative.
“The fuck did she just say?” Kerr asked around a mouthful of apple. “Who’s the fucker that’s been teaching our innocent ass little demon here to use foul language, huh?”
“Try looking in a mirror,” Aila huffed as she turned to look up at the Demon. “What are you trying to say, Alex? Is something wrong?”
“Bear… Asshole…”
“Bear? What do you—oh.”
Jadis caught on about the same time as Aila did. Turning her gaze in the direction Alex was now pointing with several of her tentacles, Jadis could see the Prowling Seawolf pulling up alongside their own ship. That was the ship that Runar was aboard, Jadis knew, along with the rest of his knights. The ship was close enough that she could see the crew moving around on the deck, though it was also just far enough away that it was hard to make out the individuals. One person stood out, though. Large, dark, and hairy, that singular static figure caught Jadis’ eyes.
“Runar,” Kerr growled. “Gods, I want to get my hands on that asshole. Just an hour alone.”
“No, you don’t,” Aila snapped. “If he was able to do what he did to Jadis, you’d be crushed in an instant. Especially since we still need to redo our bonds.”
While Jadis could understand Aila’s entirely reasonable warning, she was still inclined towards feeling the same as Kerr. Her grudge against the bear man was still very, very alive. Even if he was just a soldier doing his job, he was still a fucking prick. She definitely wanted to see how well he stood up to her in a one-on-one match rather than an ambush.
“I would simply ignore him,” Eir said primly, her nose tilted into the air slightly as she looked away from the other ship. “While I feel awful saying this about an avatar, a man of his quality is not worth sparing any of our attention for.”
“Oh, he has my attention,” Jay growled. “But you’re right. There’s no point in glowering at him like this. So long as he’s over there, we can’t do much anyway.”
“Right,” Kerr’s shoulders slumped slightly. “Can’t even shoot him with my good bow right now. Speaking of, when are we going to get to fucking? It’s been a three-week dry spell and I’m getting antsy. No one was interested in even playing around while you were out cold.”
“Kerr, you were an even bigger wreck than Aila and Eir,” Bridget pointed out, causing the therion to flush slightly. “Don’t complain about no one being in the mood when you weren’t either.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Holy shit!”
Jadis cut Kerr’s protests off with her sudden exclamation. She hadn’t meant to, but Runar had, for the second time, taken her by surprise.
With a prodigious leap, the Valbjorn paladin had leapt from the deck of the Prowling Seawolf. Soaring through the air like something out of a comic book, he crossed the open waters in an instant, his huge bulk landing on the deck of the Rising Dawn with a loud thump.
Sailors scattered as the huge bear man righted himself and turned to look at Jadis and her companions.
For an instant, Jadis was ready to fight, her instincts screaming for a second go at the jackass. Then, as she took in his appearance, she paused. Runar was… looking rough.
All the fur was missing from the left side of the bear man’s face. Some stubble was starting to grow in, but most of his pink skin was marred by some rather hideous-looking scars, almost as though he’d been burnt in a fire. The lack of fur went all the way down his neck and, from what Jadis could see, probably extended far down under his doublet. His left hand was missing its fur, too. Jadis also saw that his left ear was missing, nothing but an ugly bumpy earhole in its place.
“Shit, what the fuck happened to you?” Jay asked with her lip curled.
A second thump resounded in the cold air as another large figure landed on the deck next to Runar. Rising from his crouch, Jadis saw that the newcomer was Noll, her erstwhile mentor. He looked no different from normal, except that his armor looked like it had been recently polished.
“You happened,” Noll gruffly answered Jay’s question. “Give us a minute. We need to talk to Vraekae.”
As Noll stalked away towards the back of the ship, Runar turned to follow after him. Not, however, before he tossed a grumbling question towards Jadis of his own.
“What the fuck is a hypotenuse, anyway?”
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