4/30
Anetta was thrilled; quicker than she had expected, she had received a letter back from the cathedral. A priestess by the name of Josetta had been selected, and would be coming to relieve her any day now. She could leave. If Erich would have her, she'd happily join him, but she found herself approaching Lady Elerian.
"My lady. Is it true you are leaving the abbey?" Annetta asked shyly. Auffrey was ten years her junior, but she was also a noblewoman and a friend to Erich. She deserved a bit of deference.
"Yes? Did you need something?"
"Only to ask if I might join you? I'd like to take a more active role, and that's what you're doing, right?"
Auffrey looked at her chest, seeing her jewelry, and smirked. "Ahh. He got to you too, I see. Very well, we can cooperate. His proposal is mad, but a partial success will still do much good."
"Oh? He told you more? I don't know much about what he has planned at all. I'm sure it will be wonderful though."
"Nothing too concrete. Simply saving the world and bringing all the goodly people together to hold hands and sing Winter Veil carols. In his defense, his basic premise is fairly reasonable: stop sitting around waiting for things to happen. So; are you prepared to hunt gnolls?"
Annetta felt a swell of joy in her heart as she agreed. "Yes of course. If that is all the plan he has so far, then that is all the plan we have to work on."
Auffrey was amused at that level of confidence, but she supposed that Erich could have that effect on people.
••••••••••
Tony stayed quiet when the lady came to talk to Padfoot. Hope Saldean was a pretty girl, friendly and engaging, even if you know that she's got a few daggers hidden up her sleeves. She was quizzing Garrick about Otto, but Garrick didn't know shit. Otto was smart, strong, and secret; if this chick didn't know about him already, Tony wasn't gonna spill the beans. He wasn't a snitch.
Saldean was headed to Goldshire now, but it was probably fine. He checked the map; there wasn't anyone there with a necklace, and the bossman was in some weird little town down south that was more than half graveyard. He'd still need to pass it along if he could figure out how. People thought Tony wasn't bright, and he wasn't, but he spent a lot of time in his own head. He knew his way around, and he could see when something was up. A whole bunch of new controls popping up in the back of his head was something, so he was lookin around. Something was real weird about the boss, that was obvious, but Tony wasn't a snitch.
••••••••••
Lividia was irritated. Humans were so arrogant; it was a surprisingly attractive trait in the large strong ones, but such a tease. It was only too easy to find large, arrogant men willing to try to be her mate; after all, they could tell that in this form she was the apex of human femininity. The way they approached her and gave her offerings of food and drink was nice, but she needed more than strength and a commanding attitude to accept a male as a mate. That said, the "alcohol" that the men offered her was quite nice. They always seemed surprised by how quickly she drank it, but that made the burning sensation better.
The males that approached her seemed to enjoy answering pertinent questions. She supposed that it was complimentary for a human to be asked how they became strong; it meant that they looked strong. One man had been quite eager to let her touch his muscular arms to prove they weren't a trick.
Most of their reasons were, sadly, a bit boring. Years of farm work were entirely unacceptable, and joining the Stormwind army to learn the finer points of combat seemed risky. Mother controlled that. Maybe she could receive training elsewhere.
After that, she'd ask about their accomplishments; she didn't think it likely that she'd find an appropriate mate or even an acceptable personal trainer here, but it was worth checking. She would simply dismiss them if their first story was insufficiently impressive, which they all were. Some of them took it badly, but the rest were quick to pull him away and buy her another of the tasty drinks that felt like burning.
Alas, she had been forced to kill one man. She had so much wanted to avoid making a scene, but when she was walking out of town in the evening to finish off her cow, a man had followed her out of sight of the guards and propositioned her quite aggressively. The passion and drive was admirable, and she appreciated his consideration in confronting her far from prying eyes, but when she had explained why he was not mate material for her he didn't accept her critique. He was feeble in mind, didn't have the slightest whiff of magic about him, and she doubted he had a single concubine to his name. She was very patient with him, but he just turned red and lunged at her. She tried breaking his hand first as a courtesy, but then he'd made very unpleasant shrieking noises so she broke his neck.
"Oh bother. I'll need to get rid of this quickly. I wonder if there's anything good in his pockets?" She hoisted the corpse onto her shoulders as she walked back to her temporary den. Human meat was so stringy, but she didn't have much choice at this point. Dammit, she had decided she liked humans. Why did this one have to provoke her instead of going and becoming an Archmage to prove himself? Where were all the good men?
••••••••••
Three days without sleep was starting to have the expected effect. Keryn was a thistle tea addict at this point, and she'd made peace with that. Being able to go on short recon missions behind enemy lines without ever having to sleep was a hell of an asset, even if it meant she had to go back to town and pass out for 24 hours at a time. Unfortunately the mission was increasingly feeling like bullshit.
It had come all the way from the top, Matthias Shaw himself. Recon only, no intervention. That was normal, usually it meant that she'd drop a tip and the army would swoop in and take the credit. They needed things to do to feel special, it was fine.
This time, it meant she knew who their leader was, who their suppliers were, where they were connected to the Defias and the Goldtooth Kobolds, what they were eating, when they were planning raids, and who was fucking whose mate. She was doing her part, but the next link in the chain was ignoring it.
The locals had an excuse, they were undermanned, they had about three guys in a watchtower and a skeleton crew at Goldshire. But Stormwind had a soldier on every street corner. They could send a squad of fifty led by elite royal guards without compromising security at all. It was bullshit, but she had her orders. Don't intervene. There had to be a reason, but she didn't know what it was and she doubted she'd like it if she did.
••••••••••
At dusk, Abercrombie was shaken out of his reverie by a croaking voice that was music to his ears. "Why are you still up here, my dear?" He blinked several times. Why hadn't he been working on his Gift? Ah yes.
"I had to deal with a new apprentice today. He distracted me. I'm sorry Eliza, I know you are excited about this, but if he fulfills the tasks I have set for him it will accelerate our work." She reached out with one of her talons, stroking his cheek.
"It is ok, my love. I know you just lost track of time, but this is important. I need this. I need Darkshire to fall." Her face was shrunken and dry, but it was still his Eliza; the raspiness of decomposition was not enough to erase the affectionate tone.
She had changed much since he had been forced to give her his own still beating heart to revive her, all those long years ago. Even if she could only leave her grave at night, they were more tightly bound now than they had ever been in life. If it was her wish, he would make the streets of Darkshire flow with blood. Together, hand in hand, they made his way into the cellar.