"How are you going to get rid of it?" Gregory asked.
"Just help me carry him into one of the rooms. The bastard weighs more than he looks."
Once they got him in the room, Vondell drew Surth and impaled her into the corpse. The skin on his hand seared as she devoured the corpse in crimson flame. And by the time it had been reduced to ash, Vondell's entire right arm was bloody and raw.
~This body doesn't handle Surth, well,~ he thought to himself, completely out of breath. If he tried to do use any of her attacks with this body, it would likely fall apart. Which was all the more reason for them to get into the Tigerna's quarters and get this done with. He hated feeling helpless.
"You okay?" Gregory asked.
"You've seen me in more dire straits," Vondell replied. The skin on his arm emitted fumes of smoke, as sinew and flesh slithered together to repair the damage. However, it seemed the polymorph weakened his healing grace even further than it had been before.
"External healing doesn't work on you," Gregory said, peeking out the door. "Is it becau—"
"You had your chance. Let's focus on the directive," Vondell interrupted, tying Surth on his front this time. If they were going to see her anyway, he wanted to be able to pull her out as quickly as possible.
"Let's go."
*
The two of them made their way out of the compound, into a large garden —The Plain's city square, and the largest garden on the continent. Unlike most other cities, their city square wasn't an attraction or defensive point, but rather a temple to their god, The Mother Gnarl; the old god of nature.
She'd lost a sacrifice war against Persephone and two foreign nature-related empyreans, stripping her of most of her jurisdiction. Ever since then, her following has been in decline, and The Plains was part of a few, if not the only city in the world, that still served her.
Gregory and Vondell bowed their heads at the massive Gnarltree statue that stood at the garden's entrance. It was a massive tree, with a twisted and crooked trunk, and knotted snake-like branches that stretched in all directions. The image of a woman, beautiful and peaceful looking, was drawn in the center of the trunk, lying down in a bed of flowers.
"Persephone did well to free the people of this deceiver," Gregory whispered, as they took the gate to the left of the tree.
Vondell scoffed at that. He was sure the followers of Persephone had their deluded reasons as to why their god wasn't an orchestrator of genocide and mass suffrage, however Vondell didn't want to hear it. To him, all they'd done was replace one tyrant with a younger and more powerful one.
"Is the council room here?" Vondell asked. Last he had heard, the Tigerna's council room was somewhere beneath his castle.
Gregory nodded his head, right as they reached a massive fork in the path. The garden stretched out to either side as far as the eye could see, and several dozen paths cut forward from the forked path, towards an unseen end far into the distance. took one of the several paths that cut through the garden.
Each path was lined with a different plant on either side, every single one of them emitting a bright colorful light. The two of them took the third path to their left. This one was filled with tall roses, made entirely of crystal. They refracted the moon's pink light throughout the path and into the sky overhead, giving the area an almost festival-like sparkle.
~Their growing ginosa?~ Vondell thought to himself. Back when he was still trying to come up with a viable form of alchemy, he had used the plant as a base for volatile poisons. It had a stabilizing effect, that allowed for poisons to turn to gas after a set amount of time. The problem was that they could only be found within ruined dungeons, or an oasis, but The Plains didn't, or at least shouldn't have, access to either.
~And how are they growing it up here?~ he realized. Just then, Gregory nudged him with his elbow.
"Praise be to the Tigerna," a woman serf called out. There were four other women further down the line, whispering prayers under their breath. They moved their hands around as they did this controlling the soil, leaves, and even the light that the plants were receiving, with small gestures.
As the oldest city on the continent, The Plains had its fair share of scions. And even though most of them couldn't even compare to the weakest Antras had to offer —purely because the Tigerna feared an uprising and kept them untrained— they were still capable of using prayers and graces.
"Praise be to the Tigerna," Gregory responded, as he passed by the women.
The further down the line they went, the more herbs Vondell recognized. Each and every one of them had a combat use case, most of them related to extremely toxic poisons and cleansing elixirs. It was almost as if they were preparing for war.
~No, but they don't have any alchemists skilled enough to create some of these elixirs. Alchemy isn't even an established school on this continent yet,~ he remembered. However, it was just too much of a coincidence for him to ignore.
"Why are you zoning out?" Gregory whispered, as they approached an intersection where four paths, including theirs, fed into a larger circular one. It was covered in purple grass and had a wooden statue at its center. It depicted a warrior standing atop a knotted tree branch, with his sword pointed out fiercely. One of the previous Tigernas.
Vondell scanned the area with subtle movements, before stepping closer to Gregory. "These plants they're growing. Every single one of them is a reagent in very dangerous elixirs," he whispered.
"A lot of them shouldn't even be able to grow out of high ichor environments. But it looks like someone has a grace that makes it possible," he said, noticing the slight purple sparkle that seemed to be floating in the air.
It was hard to sense, especially now since his scars were covered, but he could just make out the warmth of someone's, or something's, ichor surrounding the entire garden.
"What? They're preparing for a battle?" Gregory asked, looking towards a line of thorny vines to their left.
"Not a battle."
"With a trove this full. It's likely a war."