"When you say, 'vampire', what do you mean? Like Count Dracula?" I raised my arms in the air, hooking my hands like claws. "Like, I vant to suck your blood!?" Everyone stared at me blankly before continuing their conversation. "Never saw that one, huh?" I mumbled, hanging my head. Tough crowd.
My family, and I assume most families, had a children's table. A place where we were relegated so as to not bother the adults when guests would visit. My sisters and I and any guest kids would sit and eat with strict instructions to be quiet, not mess around and not choke. Not necessarily in that order. I glanced over at Sayuri who was alternating between haplessly fumbling with her fork and just grabbing things with her hand and stuffing them into her mouth and realized we had been relegated to the children's table without moving.
The conversation deepened and, though not becoming overtly hostile, tottered on the knife edge of happening on more than one occasion. I didn't understand a single thing they were talking about if I were honest. There was something to do with warrens and guardians and other things which made zero sense. After they switched to a language I had no hope of understanding, I figured they didn't want me to know so instead, I simply sat and devoured whatever was put in front of me. I wonder if I have some kind of tape worm or something, I thought as I finished yet another whole plate of a mystery rice dish that tasted divine.
After dinner, the nobility continued their conversation in the parlor while I headed off toward my room with Sayuri following behind me. While she bustled about my room (which, evidently, she had decided she was an equal claimant to) I retreated to a hot bath to try to wash some of the guilt, fear, and panic from the past couple of days from my body.
This situation irritated me. No, I decided. Irritated was too mild a word for what this whole thing was doing to me. It was pissing me right the hell off. How had I ended up here in the first place? Had I died back in Korea? That was unlikely as the countess clearly intimated, she could send me back to my old chubby body and otaku existence. Of course, she could be lying. I didn't know her well (and had no intention of changing that state of affairs) but she was the type of person who would do or say anything to get what she wanted. For now, I appeared to be of use to her. I was positive I would be discarded once my utility came to an end and would have to plan accordingly.
However, I wasn't overflowing with opportunities to get back to my own life at the moment. Even if the possibility was very high she would toss me aside once my usefulness ended, I still had to take the chance. It was either that or trust she wouldn't simply have me killed if I left. Not to mention I had nowhere to go even if she didn't kill me. I swirled my arms in the cooling water and sighed. Being backed into a corner was never pleasant.
I slipped out of the bath and wrapped myself in a robe before returning to my room. To my surprise Sayuri was nowhere to be found. I flopped onto the bed and closed my eyes. I couldn't remember how long I'd been here at this point in time. Two days? Four? A week? I had no idea. I lay my arm over my eyes. Of course, I scowled, I'd spent some time dead.
I had always heard stories about a white light and the opposing viewpoints of either some light of heaven or synapses firing off as your brain lost oxygen, but I hadn't experienced anything of the sort. Or, honestly, anything at all. I was and then I wasn't and then I was again, like a lightbulb switched off and then back on. I'm sure there was some metaphysical meaning people far smarter than me could extrapolate on, but I couldn't come to any conclusion other than being alive was definitely better.
The distant night sounds drifted through the open window with the smell of approaching rain. I wasn't sure what season it was given how I had no idea where I was or what the climate in this area happened to be, but it carried the feel of late summer. The sense of long, lazy days drifting unsteadily to a close as the winds and chill of autumn brushed the heat away clung to the golden fields surrounding the city.
I liked autumn, I thought, my eyes growing heavy. The International Fireworks Festival in Seoul, the hills and valleys painted in gold and orange and red as the trees prepared for their long winter slumber, the smell of persimmons. All spoke of fall to me. Mmm, I thought. Persimmons. The honeyed taste of phantom persimmons on my tongue, I drifted to sleep.
"Get ready to go!" The voice cut through my sleep like a knife, and I jerked awake with a start. Though the dark of early morning blanketed the room I had no difficulty in making out the form of the countess standing in the darkness. My eyes picked out the objects in the dark room easily, making the whole space nearly as bright as day.
"Huh?" I staggered to my feet in confusion, the sound of gentle rain drifted through the open window. "O-ok?"
"Prepare yourself. You've got a job to do," Carrisyn huffed irritably. Still in a daze I nodded dumbly and wandered aimlessly, searching with bleary eyes for my armor. I managed to get dressed without too much trouble, only nearly tipping over once as the countess stood impassively in the center of the room, arms folded over her chest irritably.
"Want…coffee," I muttered, locking the cold steel bracelets around my wrists. My brain was still in Seoul, but my body was moving automatically. Strapping the belt about my waist, adjusting the pouches for ease of access, collapsing the crossbow, securing it to the spot on the belt next to the quiver of bolts. Before I was even aware I'd been moving I was ready to go.
"No Sayuri today?" I asked as the carriage made its way through the crowds and out a different gate than we'd used to go to the prince's palace. Though the sun was still barely visible above the horizon the gate was already busy as people rushed toward their spots in the market carrying the goods from their farms or ranches or workshops.
"She's busy," Carrisyn snapped irritably. I scowled for a moment before turning my gaze back toward the gathering wave of humanity outside. Looks like prince douchebag and siblings had well and truly pissed in her corn flakes. Honestly, I had no idea where I was going but I felt rather grateful to be getting away from the thoroughly bitchy countess. It would no doubt be a tense day around the mansion.
The silence lengthened as the carriage left the city behind and made its way into the foothills to the north. At some point the carriage had left the main road and was soon bouncing down little more than a deer trail following the line of the hills. The sun had crawled over the line of the mountains, and I saw the city in the plains far below, a dark stain on the golden plains. The air smelled fresh and clean without the stink of open sewers and burning wood. The air rushing down the mountains was cool and crisp in the early morning and smelled of snow and deep forests. I sighed and shifted my weight slightly.
It reminded me of the area around my hometown with the steep mountains jutting up from the beautiful forests far below. The smell of oncoming winter as the highest peaks became dusted with snow and the leaves on the trees became a tapestry of brilliant colors reflecting off the lazy waters of the rivers and lakes. Seoul had its own beauty, but nothing could compare to the feeling of home.
"You have to be careful," Carrisyn finally broke the silence and I glanced at her in surprise. Did my ears become plugged somehow or did she just express some modicum of concern for me? No. That wouldn't be possible. "You won't have backup this time." This time?
"I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing," I finally replied honestly.
"You're going to meet the Ri in the warrens," Carrisyn said as if I should know what that meant. She might as well have told me I just needed to explain the Collatz Conjecture to a group of kindergarteners in a way they'd be sure to grasp.
"I…have no clue what you're talking about," I admitted. I expected her to sigh irritably at me but instead she turned to me, her silver eyes searching my face for a long moment.
"The warrens are the last vestiges of the 'free elves'," Carrisyn said. "What little magic the Elves hadn't lost years ago was poured into the warrens to keep the inhabitants as safe as possible from King Rhade and his armies. Fortunately for the warrens the King's been at war almost constantly since that time. Unfortunately for us, their defenses are still in place."
"What defenses?" This didn't sound pleasant at all.
"Magical wards, constructs, traps and beasts all designed to keep humans from reaching the inner levels without mass casualties," Carrisyn murmured. "It would take an army to break through and by then the elves would have the time to escape."
"And I'm to breach these defenses and reach the inner areas, I assume. By myself."
"This is not ideal. I had hoped for more time to prepare but our schedule is not our own and our timeframe has been drastically shortened. You need to visit the Ri or what the humans call the 'low king in exile'," she was staring at me, her eyes holding me with their intensity. Something had definitely happened. Something which had rattled even the Ice Countess. She handed me a package wrapped in fabric and tied with a sturdy cord. "Give this to him. It's vital you give this only to him."
"How will I know him?" Carrisyn smiled wanly.
"He's impossible to miss," she handed me a piece of papyrus. "This is the nearest approximation of a map I could manage."
"Is there anything else I need to know?" I asked, taking the map carefully. Carrisyn chuckled humorlessly.
"Far more than we have time to go over," she returned. "If something goes wrong, I can't help you. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Everything is riding on this. On you. Be careful, Minji Song." I nodded as I stepped out of the now still carriage. I kept my face carefully neutral but smiled internally. She called me Minji!