Chapter 363: The Heir Of Veres

Callum stood in the dark doorway of a small home in one of the many streets of the Commoner District. He glanced around to make sure no one was nearby watching and then he knocked with a clenched fist.

After a moment the door swung open and a lamia’s towering form looked down on him, annoyance clear in her serpentine indigo eyes. “What are you doing here, Veres?”

Callum looked up from beneath his cowl with a surprised expression, “Lysaila?”

Kithina poked her head out from behind the lamia’s tail, “Cal? Why are you—?”

“I can explain, inside preferably,” Callum warily glanced at the dark street behind him.

Lysaila narrowed her eyes, “I know that look anywhere. I’ve seen it in countless dying men. You’re afraid. You’re in trouble aren’t you, Veres?”

“Well, I’d love to explain all the gruesome details, but I’d really appreciate it if I didn’t have to do it out in the middle of the street.” He glanced at his friend pleadingly, “Kitty, please.”

Kithina formed a half-scowl but relented, “Ugh, fine come in.”

“Thank you, thank you,” the vampire bobbed his head and carefully sidestepped the lamia and her angry death stare.

Lysaila slammed the door closed. Callum slumped his shoulders and sighed in relief.

“Your heart is beating so loudly. Who’s following you?” Lysaila asked.

“No one’s following me, not yet, at least… I hope,” he admitted.

“What’s going on?” Kithina asked. “Why are you here?”

Callum held his hands together to stop them from shaking and tried his best to calm his breathing, though it did very little to help, “My father he… h-he… Lord Veres IX, Eldrin of the Great House of Veres… is dead.”

Kithina’s face paled, “What…!? H-how? Who!?”

“I’m not sure… Dragons, my sister thinks. My father and Lady Glaz’s armies were destroyed. There were no survivors.”

“Sweet Stjerne…” Kithina grabbed the wall to steady herself, “Then Lord Veres and Lady Glaz are gone…?”

“As is Lord Gale, my sister, Carmilla, and every other soul on that battlefield,” Callum nodded bitterly.

“So what now? Why are you here, Veres?” Lysaila asked impatiently.

“Hey! Have some sympathy! He just lost his father,” Kithina snapped.

“What? I thought this guy hurt you? Why do you care what happened to him?” Lysaila raised her eyebrow.

Kithina blushed and glanced at Callum, “W-Well, yeah, but—”

“No, she’s right. I did hurt you. And I’m truly, deeply sorry for everything,” Callum bowed his head.

“We don’t have to get into all of that, really,” Kithina said.

Callum winced, “Right… I’m sorry for coming here so late. I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t have to.”

“So someone is chasing you,” Lysaila said.

“My older sister, Elise, after she found out what happened to my father and Carmilla…” Callum clenched his eyes shut, but a tear still ran down his cheek. “Elise killed Feryd and Ava. They’re gone.”

Kithina’s expression softened, “Cal, I’m so sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter, not now,” he sniffed. “The time for mourning will come later. Uncle Gian told me that.”

“Lord Gian is a wise man,” Lysaila nodded.

“Elise, she imprisoned me in my room. I escaped, but she’s probably got half of House Veres’ and Gale’s guards searching for me.”

“So you chose to hide here?” Lysaila guessed.

“My sister knows Kitty and I weren’t on good terms when I left Hollow Shade. Elise won’t send her guards here at least for a while. B-But! I just need to stay until morning. Once the city gates open I’ll be gone.”

Lysaila glanced at Kithina questioningly.

Kithina nodded, “Of course, Cal can stay.”

“Thank you, thank you. I’ll pay you back someday, I promise,” Callum bowed his head.

“Ugh, aristocrats and their favors,” Kithina rolled her eyes. “Let me make this clear, I’m not helping you for some favor. I’m helping you because it’s the right thing to do. If I were to kick you out your sister would literally kill you, right? Right…?”

“...Actually, no, she wouldn’t. Believe it or not, Elise loves me,” Callum said with a conflicted voice.

Kithina frowned, “Wait, then why were you imprisoned in the first place?”

“Elise wanted to know about Stryg…”

“What about Stryg?” Kithina furrowed her brow.

“I can’t tell you. If you knew my sister might try to kill you. So, I’m sorry, but I can’t. I’ve already put you in enough danger as it is,” Callum said apologetically.

Lysaila hissed at him, black venom dripping from her fangs, “Exactly, boy! We’re already in enough danger just by having you here. So why don’t you just tell us, before I make you.”

Callum stumbled back a step and raised his hands in alarm.

“Stop it, Lysaila, please.” Kithina stepped in between them but she glanced at Callum with a mild frown, “She’s right though. Stryg is my friend. If he’s in danger, I want to know why.”

Callum clenched his fists frustratedly but held his tongue.

Kithina crossed her arms, “If you don’t tell us I won’t help you.”

“And if you lie I’ll know,” Lysaila snarled.

Callum opened his mouth to retort but he stopped and hung his head in defeat, “If you know the truth, you won’t be able to stay in the city. At least not for a while.”

“Define a while?” Kithina asked.

Lysaila spoke over her, “Luckily for us, we’re leaving tonight anyway. By daybreak, we’ll be walking out the city gates. So tell us, boy, what did Stryg do that has got this sister of yours so dead set on killing him.”

“I didn’t say Elise wanted to kill him.”

“Yes, but you implied it, didn’t you, boy?” Lysaila noted.

He sighed, “Fine. I warned you.”

“Spill it, what did Stryg do?” Lysaila asked.

“…It’s not so much what he did, but what he is that’s the problem. Elise wants to know more about Stryg because he is an Ebon Aspirant, to see if she can ally with him, maybe. But if she digs deeper into Stryg’s past, all she’ll want to do is kill him.”

“And why would your sister want to kill Stryg? She hasn’t even met him, right?” Kithina asked.

“No, but Elise isn’t just my sister anymore, she’s the leader of my House. She is Lady Veres, the seventh of her name. Elise is the oldest living child of my family and so she has the greatest claim to the Veres Throne. Or at least she thinks so for now…”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Kithina asked suspiciously.

“What do you know about the Blue Rose?” he asked.

She wrinkled her brow, “The Blue Rose? Is that like a flower?”

He shook his head, “No. The Blue Rose was Lady Veres, the fifth of her name. And she was the last wielder of Krikolm.”

Lysaila snapped her fingers, “Ooh, I know that one! That’s the legendary Veres sword, right? They say the blade is a scarlet red from the blood of all the people it's slain.”

“For a realm traveler you know our weapons pretty well,” Kithina smirked.

The lamia shrugged, “I’m a grand swordmaster, swords are part of my trade. Besides, swordsmen talk about Krikolm even in the Amber Realm.” She clicked her tongue, “It was only when I came here that I learned your House lost Krikolm. What sort of Great House loses their ancestral sword?”

“For centuries my family tried to hide the details of the Blue Rose’s past and how the sword was lost,” Callum admitted. “It turns out the Blue Rose had it with her when she disappeared.”

“Okay, this is all interesting, but how does any of this have to do with your sister or Stryg?” Kithina asked.

“Because the Blue Rose didn’t just disappear. And before she was called Lady Veres V, she was known as Stryga.”

Kithina blinked then frowned, “Wait… As in—?”

“—Just like Stryg, yeah. And Krikolm, my family’s heirloom sword? Guess what it means in the Olden Tongue? Bloodfang.”

Kithina’s eyes widened, “Like the Blood Fang Tribe? The one Stryg used to talk about?”

Callum nodded grimly.

“W-Wait, that can’t mean…” Kithina laughed nervously, “I mean that’s insane, right? You’re a vampire. Your family are vampires! Stryg is a goblin. A hybrid blue one at that, sure, but he’s a goblin!”

“Lady Stryga was a hybrid drow-vampire. She was said to have pale white hair and blue skin like her northern drow father. But she also had strange unique purple eyes. Does any of that sound like someone we know?”

“Holy fucking shiiiiiit…” Kithina slumped onto the ground, slack-jawed.

“So you're telling me the Mortem mageling is a Veres?” Lysaila muttered.

Callum nodded, “Not just any Veres, if he really is related to Stryga, then that would make him a part of the main branch. It’d mean he’d be heir to my family’s legacy, all of it—”

“—And it would make Stryg your sister’s number one target,” Kithina finished grimly.

He nodded, “Once Elise finds out the truth she won’t stop until Stryg is dead.”

“Does Stryg know?” Kithina asked.

Callum shook his head, “No.”

“Then we have to warn him!”

“We can’t, remember? The Mortem mageling went and fucked off to Vulture Woods,” Lysaila said.

“Oh, right… So what now?” Kithina mumbled.

“Now, I need to hide and get out of the city before my sister finds me and gets a mind mage to rip the truth out of my head. I suggest you two do the same.”

“I’m not afraid of any purple mage,” Lysaila smiled proudly. “My kind are immune to mind magic.”

“I’m not,” Kithina grimaced. “We should leave the city come dawn and make our way to the Northern Lands as quickly as possible.”

“Wait, the Northern Lands. You’re going north?” Callum asked, a hint of hope in his voice.

“That’s what she just said, isn’t it,” Lysaila clicked her tongue.

“W-Well, I was thinking of going north too. Maybe I could tag along? I spent some time in the Northern Lands in my youth. I could guide you. Maybe…? Look, I know I’ve already asked for a lot just being here—”

“Then why ask for more?” Lysaila said.

Kithina sighed, “…I would rather it be just the two of us, Lysaila, but we could use a guide to get there.”

“I am our guide,” Lysaila snapped.

“Maybe once we get to the island, but Cal definitely knows the Northern Lands better than you or me.”

“I don’t trust him!” Lysaila glared at the vampire, “If Stryg is a Veres then for all we know House Veres could have been dabbling with the Mortem Order for centuries.”

“Hey, my family never had dealings with the Mortem!” Callum frowned.

Lysaila hissed in anger, her serpentine pupils narrowing to slits, “No? Your House is known for using its magic and military strength to slaughter countless people until your land was dyed red with blood, all in the pursuit of ‘peace’ or so they claimed. The Mortem Order claimed they were an association of mages who were pursuing the study of magic for ‘peaceful’ means. When in actuality the Mortem were a cult that worshiped death and murdered countless innocents in order to create a slave army, the beastkin, my people. And why did they do it? For so-called fucking peace! I don’t know about you, but those two groups sound pretty damn similar to me!”

Callum swallowed in fear but looked the lamia in the eyes, “…I will not lie to you, my House has spilled much blood throughout the last thousand years, but we never dealt with the Mortem Order of the Scarlet Realm. That I can promise you.”

“Do you know that for a fact or is that just what your family told you?” Lysaila growled.

“Lysaila, Callum wouldn’t lie about this. And we need him,” Kithina said.

“No, we don’t.”

“Yes, we do. If this quest is as dangerous as you think, then we’re going to need a white mage who can heal our injuries. Do you know any other white mages we can trust? Hm? I thought not.”

“…Dammit,” Lysaila cursed under her breath.

“Um, no one told me this would be dangerous,” Callum smiled weakly.

“Scared, boy?” Lysaila smirked.

“Come on, Cal, where is your sense of adventure?” Kithina teased.

Logically it would be safer traveling with a grand swordmaster lamia and another mage, but some part of Callum didn’t think that would be the case.

“It’s too late back out now, Veres,” the lamia hissed.

Callum swallowed hard. He was beginning to regret coming here.