99

97 - Creepy Crawlies

The closer the party came to the former capital Kolstaa, the clearer the view of it became through the snow falling down in a silvery cloud in the night light, and Elyta, Coëllo, and Muni looked up at the high walls shielding the city. Muni had seen some impressive defence walls, but nothing the height of these. 'Let me guess, they thought they could build up to the clouds and block them?'

Tarrence glanced at the very top. 'It's likely they wanted to block the cold winds.'

Passing through a gateway in the outer wall, ruined houses awaited them with another wall farther towards the centre of the city. Breaches in the outer wall let in the wind and snow heaped up against what was left of the nearby houses. The crackling sound of the nasr's steps through the snow echoed softly between the frozen walls as the party followed the main road deeper into the city.

'Wait.' said Tarrence and halted his nasr. He dismounted, walked up to the closest shop, and peered inside through the broken window. Elyta and Muni went up to him and gazed at the red stained snow and pack on the floor. 'That looks like a recent thing.' said Muni, and stepped across the windowsill. He emptied the pack on the floor and rummaged through the contents. 'Nothing special. Mostly rations and men's clothing.'

Elyta glanced at Tarrence. 'Scavengers.'

'Yes, but what happened to him?'

Muni stepped back out of the shop. 'Comrades who betrayed him, probably.'

Tarrence looked around at the shop. 'I'd think they'd take his pack with them in that case.' His eyes rested on a lighter red patch near the wall.

Elyta followed his gaze. 'That looks too light for regular blood like yours or mine.'

He hummed softly, and looked back at Gigacks. The lich shook his head. 'There's either nothing here when Gigacks can't sense it, or it can hide really well.' He returned to his nasr. 'Stay vigilant and quiet while we proceed.'

***

Ulric shielded his eyes from the snow blowing across his face, and stared up at the wall. 'I doubt I can climb it safely in these conditions.'

'Flying is risky with these winds.' said Conchim next to him. 'Even when I use my wind ability to negate part of it.'

He looked left and right along the outer wall of the city. 'We'll have to see if there's some way through at ground level.' he said, and the party drove along the wall.

'I think I see something.' said Elzbieta when she spotted a low heap of snow against the wall farther away.

It covered a protrusion in the wall, and Ulric's swipe with one wing revealed the top of a wide door. 'This looks promising.' he said.

Tipper stepped forward and stuck her spade into the snow. 'Move aside, this is my kind of thing.' The others backed away, and she went to work shovelling the snow aside like a very localised storm. The snow in front of the door soon turned into a heap to the side, and she leaned in satisfaction on the spade's handle when the area was cleared. 'There.'

Ulric chuckled. 'Well done, Tip.' he said. 'If I didn't know better, I'd believe you really have some ability in earth magic.'

She grinned. 'I'm just a natural at this.'

The door wouldn't open, so Ulric put his shoulder to it, and with some restraint in strength, he budged it open after the third push without breaking it. Using the gap, he squeezed in and pressed the door all the way open while ice shattered at the hinges. He gazed at the passage through the thick wall and the light shining into it from the partially snow covered entrance at the other side. 'Looks like we can reach the inside through here.'

Tipper cleared the other end with another blast of her spade, and everyone stepped onto the thick layer of snow covering the streets of the city, silent but for the howl and whistle of the wind and the occasional creak of a building and snow falling down from a roof. Ulric stared at the next wall. 'This wasn't the only wall they built.'

Valdys completed the search through the library. 'This must be Kolstaa, the old capital of this country that once was known as Vihremaa. They built several high walls to block the freezing winds, but it wasn't enough to stop the disaster they had caused and save the city.'

'What disaster?' asked Iphigenia.

'In their greed for resources, they mined the base of a mountain rich with them to the point where the rock between the maze of passages and shafts could no longer carry the weight of the mountain itself. Half of it collapsed and opened up the way for the cold on the other side to flow straight into the country without any possibility of stopping it. They tried for as long as they could, but it was futile. The damage was too great to even build walls like these at the site.'

Tipper finished cleaning her spade. 'Had they called in the help of dwarves, it could have all been prevented.'

Valdys checked the texts she had found on the country. 'I think they didn't have a very good reputation at the time, so I can imagine others weren't very willing to lend a hand.'

Ulric mounted Harry, and Susi snuggled tight against his chest for warmth, although her fur showed some thicker growth, just like his. 'Any indication on where we might find the artefact?'

'No, but I think we could begin our search at the city's library in the centre. There might still be books left with hopefully some clues.'

Ulric gave her a mischievous smile. 'So, it's not to only satisfy your lust for books?'

She giggled. 'It is a perk of the quest.'

***

Tarrence stuck up his hand quickly when he sensed trouble. The others halted their nasr at once and reached silently for their weapons. Tarrence signalled for them to enter the house to their left, and they went in while Tarrence kept still and his eyes on the road ahead. He joined them after he confirmed what he saw. 'There are multiple creatures on the road. I couldn't see them clearly, but they're about our size and they can move quickly.'

Muni held up his sword. 'Quick enough to dodge this?'

'Perhaps.' said Tarrence and stepped to the window. 'I also don't like it when Gigacks can't detect them. We're going on foot and silently until we know more about what we're dealing with. The nasr are likely to give us away so we leave them here.'

The party moved through backstreets later, slipping from cover to cover with eyes and ears open for any sign of the creatures. Coëllo took point into an alley, and halted when she smelled blood. She signalled from her nose to a nearby open door. Tarrence moved towards her and gave her a nod when he smelled it as well. Gigacks gestured he didn't sense anything moving around in there, and Tarrence slipped inside through the shadows. The dim night light revealed scattered furniture and blood streaks, and a look in the back room the mess of a deadly struggle. Swords, daggers, torn clothing, and packs and bags with supplies and a few minor valuables lay all over the floor. He spotted a piece of the city's map with a mark at the image of a house. It was labelled Merchant Guild. He took the map and went back outside to the others.

'What was the damage?' asked Muni while he kept his eye on the end of the alley at his side.

'Three or four people killed and missing, more strange blood, probably from the creatures.' He showed the map. 'They were looking for something here. We'll begin there.'

***

Valdys checked the rudimentary map which she had found in her library and looked at the multi-storey building with slender and high windows surrounding every floor, many of them broken. 'This should be it.'

Ulric stepped inside first and examined the hall with a square reception counter in the middle and writing desks and chairs along the walls. He heard nothing out of the ordinary and the snow that had drifted inside through the front doors and windows lay undisturbed.

'No one has been here for ages, as far as I can tell.'

The others stepped inside and looked around at the large open space. 'This was probably a busy place back in the day.' said Caylais. 'It's bigger than the one from my home town, and there were plenty of visitors every day there.'

Valdys went behind the counter and carefully checked the covers of the books placed in a book case column in the centre. 'These are index books. We should be able to find anything in here with these.'

'You're in luck, Val.' said Iphigenia from the top of the stairs to the first floor in the back. 'The shelves are still full of books. They must have ignored or forgotten them when they fled the city.' Excitement filled Valdys when she imagined the amount of books judging from the amount of index books, and Iphigenia sniggered at the sensation leaking through the familiar link. 'Don't tell me this turns you on just as much as Wolfie.'

Valdys blushed and glanced at Ulric next to her, who looked at her with a smile and tilted his head. 'I do feel thrilled at being surrounded by lots of books, but of course not as much as our beloved darling.'

Ulric chuckled and kissed her cheek. 'If books turn you on, who am I to deny you your pleasure, my sweet one.'

She giggled and stroked his cheek. 'You could find out what happens when you read to me in bed, my love.'

He picked up a book from the counter. 'Let's begin.'

She laughed and Elzbieta shook her head with a sigh. 'This is not the place nor the time, darling.'

He grinned playfully at her. 'Just teasing, cutie.'

Elzbieta rolled her eyes in mock fatigue. 'You will have to read for all of us though, darling.'

'I'll love to.'

Valdys chuckled. 'I'll begin by extracting the spirits of these index books. I'm afraid we'll damage them when we try to open them.' she said, and concentrated her spell on the books in the column.

Ulric stepped back to give her space, and Tipper and Yingshien, who hadn't witnessed that special ability before, observed her with great interest. Vague shapes formed around every book, slowly pulled away from them, and the book shaped spirits drifted to Valdys, where they faded into nothing. When Valdys opened her eyes, Yingshien realised something. 'You read all of our books like this when we let you search our palace.'

Valdys turned to her. 'Yes. I can conjure up a spirit copy of every book, which enters a library in my mind.' she said and gestured at her head. 'From there I can search and read everything, and share it all via our familiar link.'

There were books from home which Yingshien loved to read, and there were books she had planned on reading, especially now that her home was not hers any longer, but she could not count on the books still being there by the time she would retake her country. 'It's only possible through that link?'

Valdys gave her a slight nod. 'The only other way is for me to read them to you.'

The dragoness glanced at Ulric's back and pondered if it was worth it to submit to a bloodwolf demon, even if it was Ulric. Then there was also the question of what else was going on with that link.

Valdys understood what she must be thinking. 'We'll see what we can do when you're home again. Maybe by that time there's an easy way to restore any book that might be missing.'

Yingshien hoped for the same. 'Yes, maybe. We'll leave that for later then. It's not important now.'

Valdys looked up and put her hands in her sides. 'I know what's where. Now I need to do this floor by floor to extract all the books there are. It'll take me some time though.'

Ulric looked at Elzbieta. 'Then we'll also take our rest here at the same time. Let's see if we can close the doors and seal up windows to lessen the draft. Maybe there's a private room or so where we can hole up for a while.'

***

Without encountering more creatures, Tarrence's party reached the rear of the merchant guild building. Muni kept his sword ready in his hand as he carefully pushed the door at the back open. Nothing stirred in the half darkness of the short corridor, and he slipped silently inside with Coëllo following him immediately. They sneaked to the end of the corridor with a quick look into the doorways of rooms on either side, and surveyed the long entrance hall. Coëllo gave Muni a nod when she noticed nothing suspicious, and Muni went to the entrance to take a look outside through the missing windows of the double doors while Coëllo signalled for the others to enter.

Tarrence looked around the hall, then checked an open book on the reception desk at the end. It listed names and room numbers as he had hoped. There were four names with double room numbers listed. According to the numbers they were located on the upper two floors. 'Coëllo, go with Gigacks and see what you can find on this floor.' he said as he pointed to the two names on the same floor. 'Look for trade records, inventory lists, merchant addresses, anything that can point to a clue on who could have the artefact or where it might be located. Elyta, you're with me to the top floor. Muni will remain here as lookout.'

The search for Tarrence and Elyta through desks and cabinets resulted in various inventory lists from clients, with only one mentioning a carved stone. Elyta showed him the list, and Tarrence read it when a rustle in the room on the other side of a connecting passage sounded. Tarrence looked over Elyta's shoulder at a giant dark grey centipede with black legs crawling down the wall at the far end, its antennae twitching and brushing against ever surface. And then more appeared.

He grabbed Elyta at once by her waist and pulled her with him into an open small storage space, and pulled the concealed door shut. Elyta realised something was wrong without needing to see the centipedes herself. They kept silent while the sound of many oversized insect legs scraping across the wooden floor came closer. Tarrence pulled his daggers out while Elyta took her sword, but the small space meant they pressed tight against one another as they moved. Elyta glanced at Tarrence and was not surprise to see his completely cool expression, while a stir touched her inside her lower abdomen. She knew there were more pressing matters at hand, but a few memories passed through the back of her head before she could lock them away again.

The scraping passed by and faded, and Tarrence opened the door and peeked through the tiny crack. 'Seems they're gone.' he whispered.

They slipped cautiously from the storage space and stepped into the room where they last heard the centipedes. Elyta looked down at the stairs, where the centipedes moved around. 'They went downstairs.' she whispered. 'How do we warn the others if they haven't found out yet?'

Tarrence pulled two small stone tablets from a pocket, scribbled the communication spell on it, and dropped one down the stairs. He stepped away from the stairs before he spoke. 'Centipedes at the stairs. Stay out of sight.'

Coëllo, Gigacks, and Muni caught the warning from the stone near the bottom stairs, and backed away from their direction. Coëllo witnessed Gigacks standing completely still near the wall when a centipede shuffled into the room. She looked around for a hiding place, and hurried into a cabinet with barely enough space for her to sit in.

Muni sneaked around the hall in a wide circle around the stairs towards the only place he found, the top of two deep book cases placed back to back. He climbed quickly on top and crawled in the low space below the ceiling, glad the cases were made of sturdy wood and didn't creak much.

The centipedes lingered around too long for his taste, and he suspected they were on to them when one of the monster insects went into the corridor to the back and another went around the hall and probing the floor in the same route he had moved earlier. When it returned from the entrance and touched the base of the book cases and the floor with its wriggling antennae, he became worried and gripped his sword. Having seen only some blood of the creatures but no bodies or even hacked off limbs made him wary of the strength of their exoskeleton, and doubt he'd survive an attack of several of them at the same time. For once he preferred spiders.

The stomp of a foot against the entrance door startled both him and the centipede, and he watched as a large and armed orc entered the hall. The new visitor looked around, and went towards the reception desk.

Almost certain that the orc hadn't spotted him or the centipede, Muni kept still as he observed the orc. The orc opened a wooden box on the desk, then tossed it aside with a grunt when it turned out to be empty. "Scavenger." thought Muni, and noticed the centipede below him moving from the corner of his eye. He also spotted another at the stairs and the one coming from the corridor while the orc flipped through the room list, unaware of the danger. The centipedes rushed towards him when he finally discovered them.

The orc grunted hard as he swung his sword at the first one, and cursed when it did no damage to its back. The other two jumped him from two sides and caught him in their nimble embrace. He struggled and cried out as they ripped open his neck, and the three of them fell over while more centipedes hurried down the stairs. Muni witnessed the centipedes tearing the orc to pieces and dragging every piece of him out the door with some fascination. He stayed put for a little while before he climbed down the cases and checked the front of the building. The tracks through the snow and the red streaks disappeared down a side street, and he closed the doors quickly and pushed a nearby cabinet in front of them.

'Clear!' he called out at the stairs.

98 - Holes

A private reading room provided the desired closed off space to settle in and warm up a little with a row of lit candles. It was large enough to accommodate everyone after removing the table and chairs in it, which was also small enough to add warmth through the heat of everyone's bodies. Ulric shook his fur. 'It's nice to not see our breaths turn into fog clouds for a little while.'

Elzbieta prepared the rations of dried meat, vegetables, and bread for everyone with Kaui. 'I don't think it'll become comfortably warm at one point, darling, but maybe that's good. It'll only add to the resistance of leaving this place and going out into the freezing cold again.'

Iphigenia hummed in thought. 'There is something to say for staying here forever if we can secure a source of food. We'd only have to eat, sleep, and snuggle with Wolfie.'

Ulric laughed. 'As tempting as that sounds, I'll hold out until we settle this demon lord quest and find a place with better weather and plenty of nature to hunt and swim as we like.'

Tipper looked casually over the books lining the walls of the room. 'And there's also the question of those of us who are not part of the jolly harem. I'm not looking forward to spend the remaining years of my life like that.'

Iphigenia looked back at her. 'Well, you could always join us and then be part of our jolly harem.'

Tipper groaned at the thought. 'I don't fancy that much hair between my legs.'

Ulric stroked his jaw. 'I could always shave my muzzle.'

Tipper took a book from a shelf and threw it at him at the amusement of the others. 'You can stick your muzzle where the sun doesn't shine, pervert beast.'

He sniggered. 'Now who's the pervert? But if you're into that kind of thing, maybe I will.' he said and stuck out his tongue playfully while placing the book on his head as a helmet.

She couldn't deny her amusement at his goofy expression and her own fault for making it easy for him, and groaned and shook her head. 'Val, where can I find the largest and heaviest book in this library to throw at him?'

Valdys giggled. 'I believe it's on the top floor, titled, The Abbreviated and Illustrated History and Usage of the Number and Letter Code for Cataloguing Literary and Other Works in the Kolstaa Royal Library, Complete with Footnotes and References.'