Chapter 37 — A Country Rots From The Top Down

Justicar Horvath watched as the potion did it’s work to gradually restore Etrian from his mortal wounds. How the cat had managed to cut into the organs inside Etrian’s chest with only a finger width cut circling the outside of his companion’s chest was a worrisome unknown that likely involved a form of spatial magic.

The cat surely had important information to be extracted regarding the activities of foreign entities operating in Ester, but even so, he might have to prioritize elimination of the beast-kin youth and hope that Yillian of Torce’s knowledge would have sufficient overlap.

Of course, that would have to wait. With Duke Haverin aware of their operation in his city and now actively hostile, relocating the remaining stores from their locations under Haverin City was the immediate priority. Too much had been invested for it to fall into the duke’s hands.

Etrian took in a deep gasping breath and would have sat up if Horvath hadn’t restrained him. “Stay still. The healing isn’t complete. Try not to speak or cough.”

The noble nodded and let his head fall back.

“Sarlen showed up and demanded our departure, so I thought withdraw was the prudent option considering your condition,” Horvath reported.

Etrian’s groan at the news caused him to suffer a coughing fit, and Horvath had to turn him onto his side to clear the clotting blood.

“Argh, that cat really got me,” Etrian eventually managed after the coughing subsided, his refined nose scrunching in distaste at the sewer smell. “You made the right move. I hate leaving things unfinished... but collecting the serum is more important.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Horvath said, hiding his relief. The nobles he had been assigned to in the past often didn’t take setbacks or wounds to their pride particularly well.

Wrapped in the illusion of a maid, Kaylie let her eyes travel along the palace’s architecture and embellishments as she walked the wide corridor leading to the royal audience hall. Though designed to impress, the rare stone embedded with tiny gemstones and the gilded decorative half-pillars were far from the most opulent she had seen. At least the floor wasn’t entirely made of magicked gemstone.

One of Kaylie’s golden rules was that a country always rots from the top down. When problems seemed widespread, the cause was invariably found in the leadership. And so, here she was, infiltrating the royal palace.

Thanks to the sense of ‘nothing out of place’ that her illusion inspired when viewed, she was able to walk right past the fancy polearm-bearing knights guarding the hall’s entrance as if she were air.

The hall interior was large, well-lit by narrow high windows, and well-filled by various nobles as the king and his council of advisors held morning court, hearing petitions from his vassals. The matter currently before the court was an inheritance dispute of some kind that Kaylie couldn’t care less about.

A look around the nobles in the hall and up on the balconies showed that most of the others were of the same opinion. What she saw surprised her though; the ones she expected to have sufficiently negative karma to deserve her blade didn’t. That wasn’t to say there weren’t any, but for the king to be a righteous man was outside her expectation.

Kaylie let her illusion drop and strode forward into the room, her Kyrren attire and cat-kin features clearly visible. The growing hiss of whispers as she passed by minor nobles and retainers in attendance eventually brought the bloviating baron currently speaking to an awkward halt as attention from the higher ranked members of the court turned her way.

“Who dares approach His Majesty of Ester without leave?” an officious robed man with an ornate gemmed staff directed her way with a threatening and disdainful voice as he moved to block her from advancing toward the king and high ranked nobles.

Having reached the audience area around which the higher ranked nobles and petitioners were standing, Kaylie stopped and calmly proclaimed, “On behalf of the Kyrren and other unnamed interests, I, Kaylie, Master of the Way of Dancing Petals and known as the Eternal Flower, demand an audience with the king and court of Ester.”

A stunned silence fell until whispers of doubt and disbelief about her identity and worry and fear about what could bring her to their court rippled through the gathered nobles.

“Demand? You overestimate yourself, catkin!” a burly and not unattractive middle-aged noble challenged, stepping forward and flaring his battle aura in her direction.

When she repelled the man’s aura with her own, the whispers changed to awe and fear, calling her an immortal and wondering why she had appeared as a cat-kin. The human blocking her path and many of the lesser nobles began backing away from the clear danger that was suddenly in their midst. She couldn’t help the corner of her mouth ticking upward at the ones with the worst karmic bonds discreetly fleeing the room.

Other battle auras quickly joined the first high-ranking noble to challenge her, and a clashing jumble of fighting intent assaulted her, attempting to force her submission. Even for her, directly taking on the entirety of Ester’s court was a bit much, but she hadn’t chosen this method without a plan.

“I see we’ll have to do this the hard way,” she sighed out and, materializing a resonance crystal from specialized stasis storage, lazily lobbed it before the posturing nobles. The crystal began to whine and vibrate as it drew in the energies surrounding it.

A commotion broke out as shielding magics were cast and spells and abilities were launched in her direction only to be sucked into the crystal.

“Do you intend an act of war?!” the officious human shrieked.

“Kyrren aren’t the ones who are currently engaging in acts of war, human. I recommend you stand down, and quickly,” she coldly advised.

The whining and vibrating of the crystal continued to become more shrill, and it began to glow.

Fortunately, someone of sufficient importance wasn’t entirely ignorant of what the crystal was (and would do) and frantically yelled out for everyone to stop and restrain their auras.

“Enough!” a commanding voice echoed out. “Restrain your aura’s and magics, I will hear what she has to say.”

At the human king’s command, the room went still and with the energy feeding the crystal withdrawn, the whine began to slowly become less shrill. Wary and disgruntled eyes and unsheathed weapons were still directed in her direction, but that hardly bothered her. She would think less of them if they didn’t see her as a threat now.

Gracefully, she stepped forward and stored the crystal so she wouldn’t have to speak over it.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I will be brief. I come bearing a warning: the Beastkin tribes and the hidden powers of the world will not sit idly as this kingdom recklessly upsets the regional balance and risks unleashing a long-sealed terror on the world—a terror known as the all-consuming and insane land god Xogg-Shriloth and which is currently ravaginging Elven-controlled lands in a plot hatched and carried out by your own Tower of Magic.

“Before you doubt my words, know that your Tower of Magic has been infested with vampires and opportunists including a faction aligned with the Church of Malor. These factions have formed a secret cult responsible for the current crisis. I have personally seen to the death of the Vampire Lord, but the rest of the clean up will be up to you. As far as the vampires go, Haverin City is currently known to be infested, but there are surely other locations.”

The chamber collectively gasped, and murmurs of “Insane land gods?!”, “Vampires!”, “Priests of Chaos!”, “Gods save us!”, and such rippled around the audience hall.

“To assist in restoring containment of this terror, I seek a Royal Treasure: the Orb of Endless Ice.”

After several moments of silence while Kaylie waited for the king’s response, a count sneered at her and loudly scoffed, “You come bearing such outlandish nonsense without proof and seek to blame us for a disaster the elves likely caused upon themselves?! It’s ludicrous. An insult.”

Many of the nobles present echoed the count’s sentiment. Denial was a natural response when one’s country was accused by a foreigner. Though the ones deflecting to shift blame and hide their own involvement made her smile a bit at that particular failing of human nature.

“Your belief is not required, young Count Loremire,” Kaylie responded, taunting the aging human with a patronizing chuckle. “How cute of you to hope that my accusations are without evidence.”

Kaylie materialized and tossed to the floor a small pile of unsealed letters.

At the sight of his crest on one, he turned an amusing shade for a human.

“Would anyone else like to volunteer their guilt?” Kaylie mocked, her eyes drifting to each noble with visibly negative karma in the group still standing before her. “I wonder how many of you have heard the legend of my Karma Severing Sword?”

“I won’t have you threatening nobles under my protection and in service to Ester while in my presence, Grand Explorer Kaylie,” the king warned and ordered a boy dressed in finery to retrieve the letters.

A tense silence blanketed the large hall as the country’s king paged through the evidence Kaylie had provided. Kaylie kept alert of the nobles she had already taken note of—desperate men do desperate things. But thus far, her threat seemed to be keeping them in check.

With a sigh, the king spoke up, “This is grave and concerning information you bring, Grand Explorer Kaylie. Know that it has been received and will be acted on accordingly. I do not know the location of the treasure you seek, but we will do our best to procure it for you.” The king motioned to an aid, who promptly left the hall. “This will take some time, but I trust you will know when it has been retrieved.”

Kaylie nodded. “I will.”

“Are there any other matters that the crown and royal advisors should be made aware of?” the king prompted, already sounding weary at the idea that she may have held back the worst for last.

“Just one more matter before I leave…” Kaylie let her eyes sweep over the gathered ministers and court attendees. “Our agents have confirmed that your Justicars are acting on behalf of at least one of the Tower factions involved in this.”

Gasps again filled the room at the implication.

When the gasps were followed by outrage that she would dare impune Ester’s royal family, the king again calmed his nobles before addressing her with a stern voice, “It is true that the Justicars can only be ordered to action by members of the royal family and the high council. Such being the case, those involved will surely be discovered and dealt with now that I have been made aware.”

“Good. Then I will leave you with words of advice.” Kaylie paused to sweep her eyes over the gathered nobles again. “The Society does not take kindly to expending its blood and treasure cleaning up your messes, and any such debt incurred will be collected in the future.”

Her rudeness inspired further growls of outrage from a few of the human nobles who had yet to learn the way of the world, but she had already turned her back to them and was gliding unhurriedly from the hall. Ester’s king and the ones who had kept silent clearly understood the implications and consequences of the message she had delivered.

The knights at the hall’s entrance stiffened at her exit but made no move to stop her.

When she turned a corner out of sight, a boy similarly-attired as the one from before approached her and quietly held out a folded piece of paper for her, quickly escaping once his task was complete.

Curious, Kaylie unfolded the note and scanned over it’s contents as she continued on her way, her Kyrren attire drawing the eyes of servants and guards alike.

To her mild surprise and amusement, the note contained the location of the Orb of Endless Ice and a brief summary of the reason it couldn’t be readily retrieved: the spatial key needed to access the vault had been stolen. The King was willing to offer her the orb if the key could be retrieved.

She was beginning to like this human king.

Interesting artwork drew her gaze as she walked. Sneaking into a place was always fun, but walking out boldly after a victory was also something she rather enjoyed.

Kaylie was in excellent spirits, her tail high. Her risky move of confronting Ester’s king directly had paid off much better than expected, and the day was still young.