Chapter 417: Mother’s Fury

The smell of iron and dried meat permeated the air and mixed with the smoke rising from Tauri’s campfire. The Blood Fang hunters huddled around the fire, trying to gather what little heat they could from the flames. The fall into the river had left them all freezing, even the goblins were struggling to stay warm.

The hunters and Tauri had taken refuge in one of the frost troll’s storage cellars. The cellar had been carved out from the side of one of Grimstone Mountain’s numerous tunnels. The room wasn’t very large but it was easy to defend if any more trolls were to attack.

The cellar was filled with frozen hunks of meat, some dangling from the ceiling, others resting atop large wooden tables. Tauri had dismantled one of the tables and burned it with a flame spell to create their campfire. Some of the hunters that were well enough to walk had grabbed some of the cellar’s meat and hung them over the fire to cook.

Jahn sat in the cellar’s doorway, his spear resting between his arms. Tauri had offered to take shifts between guard duty but Jahn had politely declined.

A chieftain’s duty was to protect his tribe and he had already failed to protect them, he would not fail them again, not while he had strength, he told her.

Tauri had let him be after that. She understood what it was like to have failed the people you were meant to protect. How many had fallen at Widow’s Crag due to her rash decisions made in anger. The blame wasn’t only hers to carry but such a thought hadn’t made her students’ deaths any easier to carry.

Around half the Blood Fang hunters had fallen in the chasm’s river never to rise again. The rest were wounded, some far worse than others. Srixa and a few other hunters tended to the unconscious in grim silence.

“It’s freezing in here,” Plum muttered with chattering teeth. She rubbed her arms and inched closed towards the fire.

It was freezing in this godforsaken mountain, but there were worse places to be Tauri supposed. She glanced at the bundle of white flower petals next to her and felt a pang of worry eat at her insides.

Blossom’s petals had puffed up and formed a cocoon of sorts, only peeling back around Stryg’s face so he could breathe. Though, it didn’t seem he was breathing. The blue goblin’s face was completely still. Tauri had to lean and watch him close for a few moments before she could notice the slight motion of inhalation.

“How long will he be like this…?” Tauri asked restlessly.

“He was a lot worse when First Mother and I found him,” Plum noted quietly. “Blossom should help speed up the healing process though I’d wager it will take several days for him to awaken.”

“I thought Blossom’s healing abilities were said to be powerful,” Tauri frowned. “So much for House Thorn’s ancestral artifact.”

“His chest was crushed by giant boulders. Healing shattered bones and ruptured organs is no small feat. Even archmages would struggle to heal such wounds. Blossom is doing what it can. In any case, First Mother told me that Stryg’s body condition is different from others. I don’t know how much Blossom’s life magic can do to help him.”

“So how do we know the cloak is even working?” Tauri asked skeptically. “I mean, just look at him! He looks dead.”

Plum shrugged, “First Mother told me that so long as Stryg’s second heart continues to beat he will recover. We’ll just have to trust her.”

“That’s somewhat difficult, don’t you think?” Tauri whispered.

“What else can we do? It’s not like we can heal Stryg ourselves, we’re not white mages.”

Tauri sighed and lay down next to Stryg and Blossom. “This whole clusterfuck of a quest has been… unusual.”

“That’s an understatement,” Plum said dryly.

“...You know, for a long painful moment there I didn’t think I would make it,” Tauri said quietly. “We were stranded in the chasm. Skolguls were pouring out of their burrows all around the walls while those troll sons of bitches were attacking us from atop the terraces.”

“What happened?” Plum asked.

“...The Favored of the Moon. She came out of the water, arcs of lightning surging at her fingertips. She slew the skolguls as if they were just rodents and not giant monstrous creatures with carapaces as hard as steel. Then she healed the chieftain and flew off.”

“And found me,” Plum surmised. “I’m sorry we took so long getting back to you all.”

“Meh, at least you two came back for us,” Tauri grinned half-heartedly. “Besides, the chieftain dealt with the remaining skolguls.”

“Jahn and the First Mother are really something else…” Plum muttered thoughtfully.

“I’ve seen weapon masters before, even grand weapon masters like the chieftain, but First Mother?” Tauri shook her head in awe. “Her spell casting was extraordinary, comparable to the likes of the greatest archmages in the realm, and her mana, my gods, the sheer amount of mana surging through her… I’ve never seen anything like it. Not even Lord Noir could compare. I doubt he even possesses half the amount of mana that she does.”

“Are you certain?” Plum asked hesitantly.

“You should have seen it. It felt as if the earth was falling apart. First Mother tore down the walls of the chasm and defeated the skolguls in one single strike.”

Plum recalled the enormous crack running down the chasm wall and felt a shiver run down her spine. “That was First Mother…?”

Tauri nodded. “And she didn’t even falter for a moment. Her mana reserves weren’t emptied at all. She just kept going. I knew the Ebon Lords were feared because of their range of magic but I never knew how vast their mana reserves could be.”

Plum stiffened. “Ebon… Lord…?”

“Right, you weren’t there,” Tauri said softly. “You didn’t see her range of chromatic magic.”

Plum swallowed hard, “What exactly are you saying…?”

“I’m saying First Mother is an Ebon Lord.”

Plum’s paled at the news. She glanced at Stryg’s sleeping face and muttered to herself, “I see…”

“It’s hard to believe I know,” Tauri said.

“No, actually it makes a lot of sense…”

“What do you mean?”

Plum glanced at the cellar’s doorway. Jahn didn’t seem to be paying attention to them. She wondered where First Mother had gone and when she might return. First Mother had made her swear not to say anything to Stryg about his parentage for now… But in truth, Plum had only agreed because she wasn’t sure what to make of it all, that and she feared First Mother’s wrath.

Still, Plum needed advice on how to deal with the matter. And technically, she wasn’t telling anything to Stryg. “Tauri, we need to talk…”

~~~

Queen Yala sat in her ‘stronghold’ chamber waiting impatiently. The room was sparse, with only a simple bed and a crate of provisions to last a week. The chamber hadn’t been built for comfort but for resiliency. Ten enchanted walls of ice, metal, and rock had been built around the chamber, each thicker than the last. Its purpose was simple, yet effective. Impenetrable defense.

It was here that Yala waited for her husband’s return. The moment the Sylvan emissary and her retinue of guards had arrived she had known what needed to happen. Her husband, Alok, would not tolerate any survivors.

When Alok had invited the goblin-drow hybrid for a chat Yala had taken the chance to leave the throne room before things became dangerous. This wasn’t the first time such an ambush had happened and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Nevertheless, it was unusual that Alok hadn’t returned yet.

As per usual, Yala had followed all the regular safety precautions, but something still bothered her. She wondered if she should go check on Alok, but the guards standing outside the chamber wouldn’t allow her. They followed the king’s command and they would not allow Yala to leave until they were certain all threats had been eliminated.

The ground suddenly began to shake and muffled voices yelled from a distance.

Yala jumped to her feet in surprise. “Hello!? What was that? Did something happen?!”

The muffled voices echoed throughout the chamber but they were too faint. Hardly any sound could reach past the chamber’s walls.

Yala placed her head on the large steel door and strained her ears to try and catch what the voices were saying.

An explosion sounded in the distance and the voices were abruptly silenced.

“Hello!? Is something wrong…!? Answer me! Someone answer me!” Yala screamed as the anxiety began rising in her voice.

Yala noticed a dull orange spot forming at the center of the door and she stumbled back. The orange spot began to glow brighter and hotter, expanding until it covered the entire steel door. Molten metal began dripping from the door at a rapid pace and formed a large molten hole. Yet there was nothing behind the door, only pitch darkness.

Yala frowned and tried to look past the shadows but she could not.

“I found you,” came an eerie voice. From the darkness a young woman stepped out, the shadows themselves trailing behind her.

For a moment Yala did not recognize her. She hadn’t seen the Sylvan retinue traveling with a snow-white hair goblin, but then she saw her cold yellow eyes and Yala knew who stood before her.

“You… you’re the emissary…” Yala’s voice trailed off. “No, you’re a mage.”

“Correct,” Aurelia said calmly.

Yala chuckled to herself, “You never came for some ‘treaty.’ This was an attack from the start. Assassins sent by the Lunar Elect to deal with the rising power in Grimstone.”

“You think too highly of yourselves. We came only for the iron ore and to investigate the disappearance of the last emissary. We would have left peacefully had you not decided to stab your own allies in the back.”

“You were never our allies,” Yala sneered at her. “My people feared your people for centuries. We only worked for you because we had to.”

“The history of our people is far more complicated than that but I do not have time nor patience to discuss it with you,” Aurelia replied without missing a beat. “I am here because you’ve made three mistakes. The first is that your soldiers at the bridge killed the actual emissary sent here to discuss the terms of our trade agreement. You will have to settle for me instead.”

“Wonderful,” Yala glared at her. The temperature of the chamber began to drop as she channeled elemental water mana through her body.

Aurelia ignored the queen’s anger and continued, “Your second mistake was to ambush us. You have shown your colors and now I know you cannot be trusted.”

“If you think you can capture me and use me as some kind of bargaining tool then you are sorely mistaken,” Yala growled.

“You think I came here to capture you? So I could bargain with a corpse?” Aurelia raised her eyebrow.

Yala stiffened. “What?”

“Your husband, Alok, king of the fools, is dead.”

“You lie!”

“I saw it myself. His lifeless body and his broken armor.”

“...That’s not true…”

Aurelia cocked her head to the side, “I don’t think you understand your position. Your king is dead. Your guards outside are dead. Your captain of the guard Izgerd is dead, along with every other troll stationed at that bridge to here.”

Yala narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Who are you…?”

The woman smiled, though it did not reach her cold yellow eyes. “I am the Matriarch of The Blood Fang Tribe, Favored of the Moon, and Last of the Ebon Lords.”

“Ah… I see…” Yala smiled weakly and released her elemental mana. She sat on her bed slowly and hung her head in defeat. “I never thought the Lunar Elect would have sent Aurelia the Blooded to Grimstone. I was told you had disappeared for the last two decades.”

“In many ways I had.”

“I suppose you’ve come to kill me then…?”

“You really don't understand your position, do you?”

“What?” Yala looked up in confusion.

Aurelia held up three fingers, “Three mistakes your people made but your last was the most grievous. You invited Stryg for a ‘chat.’ You tried to kill him.”

“And if I am to believe you, my husband died for it.”

“You think his death nullifies your mistake? You think your death will nullify that mistake?” Aurelia’s voice trembled with rage. “Did you think I wouldn’t find them? Tucked away where no one else might see? In a chamber more well-guarded than this one?”

Yala’s face paled in horror. “What did you—?”

Aurelia snapped her fingers and her shadows dragged out three young frost trolls from the darkened doorway behind her. They were unconscious and tied with thick green vines. “They cannot hear you, I have put them to sleep with a mind spell.”

“N-No!” Yala fell to her knees in terror. “Please, they are innocent! They had nothing to do with this!”

“Oh, so now that your children’s lives are at stake you wish to bargain?” Aurelia asked.

“Stop, please! I’ll do anything, anything you want! Just please let my children go! I beg of you!” Yala cried out.

“Your third mistake will cost you more than your pride,” Aurelia seethed.

Sharp thorns sprouted from the vines around the neck of Yala’s eldest child. The young girl flinched in her sleep as the thorns pierced her skin and dug into her throat.

“NOOO!!” Yala cried out and charged Aurelia.

A small bolt of lightning shot out from Aurelia’s hand and sent the queen crashing into the wall. Yala groaned in a painful daze and tried to stand but her body would not listen.

“How does it feel? To watch as your child is dying?” Aurelia crouched over the queen and whispered into her ear, “Remember this moment every time the thought of betraying the Sylvan crosses your mind.”

Aurelia clenched her fist tight and the vines around the eldest child’s neck snaked around her quickly, tearing the teenager’s throat into ribbons. Yala screamed a horrid wretched sound as her daughter collapsed, her body spasming as the blood pooled around her head.

“Two children you have left, troll queen! Two!” Aurelia yelled. “If you wish to see them ever again you will restore the ore shipments to Evenfall immediately. Grimstone will send double the shipments for the first two years and the Sylvan shall pay not a coin for them. Do you understand?”

“MURDERER!” Yala cried out in a broken voice of rage and sorrow.

“Do you understand!? Or shall I take the head of another one of your children!?”

“I… I understand,” Yalla sobbed.

“Good. After two years the trade between our people shall resume as normal and you shall have one of your children back while the other stays as a hostage in our city. From then on they shall trade places each year for the remainder of their lives. However, if we hear of any hint of traitorous feelings being harbored in the hearts of your people or if a single shipment of ore fails to be delivered, then I shall kill both your children wherever they may be. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” Yalla mumbled through her tears.

“You are the leader of your people now. It would benefit you to be wiser than the last king.” Aurelia turned around and walked back into the darkened hallway, her shadows dragging the remaining two troll children behind her.