Vacant Throne

“Alright. At least you’re answering your phone. It isn’t like a vital emergency, but…” Alyssa trailed off in her conversation, glancing to one side. Irulon was poking around the markets, fresh notebook under one arm, looking for anything that caught her eye. “I’m sure your most devout follower would appreciate some urgency.”

“Tell her not to fear. I won’t abandon her. We’ll be ready long before any crucial moment has passed.”

Alyssa wasn’t so sure that Tenebrael could guarantee that should something happen related to angels, but it was nice to hear that she actually had some modicum of concern for a mortal. A mortal other than Alyssa, anyway. Did that concern for Irulon balance out her callous consumption of human souls? Who knew? But it was something.

“We’ll speak soon, Alyssa Meadows,” Tenebrael said. Her voice sounded like she was directly next to Alyssa instead of coming through over the phone speaker. It was realistic enough that Alyssa impulsively turned her head back and forth, half expecting the angel to have appeared behind her. But there was nothing but people browsing the market place.

Fela in particular had her nose in some kind of sausage stand. Half a dozen people were standing around, not really shopping, but not fleeing in terror either. They were just watching Fela’s tail swing back and forth with mild apprehension. This was a separate market than the one that they had dropped Iona off in. Nearby, but separated by a large building that was apparently the Trader’s Guild. She wasn’t sure what the purpose of the Trader’s Guild was, some kind of regulatory body probably, but there was apparently one in Lyria as well.

That wasn’t to say that Alyssa had never been to this particular market. She had, it was where she had purchased most of her supplies, both for herself and for Volta. Most goods here in this market were not food related. Lots of carpentry work, candle makers, tailors, a rug maker, and even two goldsmiths and a silversmith. But of course Fela had found the one food stall in the area. The portly man behind the counter with a thick mustache looked like he was trying to decide between closing up for the day to get away from Fela or make the biggest sale of his life based on the look in Fela’s eyes.

Of course, that look in Fela’s eyes was exactly the reason Alyssa didn’t let her carry any money on her.

It was a bit strange how people were acting here. It wasn’t their first time seeing Fela, was it? Sure, they didn’t visit this market that often, but the other side wasn’t that far away. Alyssa had already spotted a gremlin heading into the silversmith, so it wasn’t like monsters in general were completely alien here. Fela was about twice the size of a gremlin and had obviously sharp claws and teeth. The flames coming from her eyes were probably not that reassuring either.

Alyssa slipped her phone back into her pocket. Tenebrael had long since hung up. Making her way up to the sausage vendor, Alyssa handed over a few coins, buying Fela three thick sausages. “Come on,” she said, grabbing Fela’s free paw to drag her away from the vendor. “You’re standing in the middle of the road, blocking all the customers.”

Fela didn’t respond, choosing instead to chomp down on the first of her breakfast. Brunch? They had eaten before leaving… after a long talk with the guild cook on the subject of hygiene around food preparation.

“Find anything interesting?” Alyssa asked as they neared Irulon.

“Near enough. There was a particular cloth from a nearby tailor that appears enchanted. I am a bit surprised to find something like that around here. They don’t have many highly ranked arcanists capable of such feats.”

“Imports?”

“I presume so, but I’d like to figure out where from. It didn’t look like anything I’ve seen around Lyria in the past.”

“When was the last time you went window shopping in Lyria?”

Irulon raised an eyebrow, nodding. “Your point is noted and acknowledged. Still, the cloth had a few interesting properties regarding its ability to interact with water. It may make for a good cloak material. I think I will head back to the tailor and see what can be done of it.”

“Before you go,” Alyssa said, stopping Irulon from walking away. “I just wanted to let you know that she—” Alyssa didn’t want to start dropping Tenebrael’s name in a big crowd. It would just draw unwanted attention. She was already dreading having glowing eyes again… Maybe Tenebrael will give me some indestructible sunglasses. “—said that things were a bit busier than she had expected upon retaking on her duties. Nothing to worry about. And…” hesitating, Alyssa almost considered skipping this part, but decided not to in the end. “She wanted you to know that you shouldn’t worry. She would be back to things well before any critical moment came to pass.”

Irulon sucked in a quick breath. A ghost of a smile crossed her otherwise stoic lips. “I understand,” she said with a bob of her head. “That’s good. A small weight off my shoulders.”

“Just… don’t expect her to do everything. Or rather, don’t leave everything to be done by her.” Alyssa didn’t want to lose a friend because Tenebrael vaguely said she would be around for something only for some rule to crop up and stop any expected assistance in its tracks.

“Of course not,” Irulon said, affronted. “I— No, we will pull our own weight through this. Merely having Tenebrael’s blessing is enough to set aside my worries that we are following the wrong path.”

“Good.” Though Alyssa still wouldn’t discount the possibility that they were going about this the wrong way just because Tenebrael said something. Still, they were the experts and she would have to defer to their expertise. Alyssa would help where she was able. Otherwise… “One other thing that she mentioned…”

“Hm?”

“I do now know where the culprit behind the attack on the bounty hunters is hiding. But… I’m not sure what to do about it yet. Was it self defense? Or in defense of the monsters in the camp? Or was it just an act of aggression against a vulnerable target?”

“Hm. That sounds like the kind of thing that I will be abandoning to you.”

“Yeah. I expected that. I suppose I’ll just have to go and talk to it on my own.”

“I’ll be there,” Fela said… or tried to say. Her mouth was full and made her words come out as garbled nonsense. But Alyssa still got the gist of it.

“Take care. An apophis is not something you would be able to fight easily. Assuming the rumors are true, anyway.”

“I doubt Spectral Chains will work well on a snake too, especially one as big as an apophis is rumored to be. But I have a plan. If it looks aggressive, I can Fractal Lock it and walk away.”

Irulon put on a thoughtful expression for a moment before nodding, apparently agreeing with the tactic. “Good luck. You’ll be back by evening, I presume?”

“I sure hope so. My days have been long enough recently. I’d like to get a good night’s sleep for once.”

“Should have just kept sleeping,” Fela mumbled. “No need to get up so early. Everything that can be done in the morning can be done in the afternoon. You know, back—” She stopped talking abruptly, stiffening slightly. Taking in a deep breath, she started again. “Back where I came from, no one woke up before the sun was at its highest point. And everything went just fine until… until…”

“It’s alright,” Alyssa said as she gently squeezed Fela’s shoulder. Fela almost never talked about the time before she got captured by the Juno Federation. And Alyssa didn’t ask. She honestly wasn’t sure if she should or not—her Communication 101 classes in college hadn’t covered responses to traumatic situations. All Alyssa could do was be around and be open to being talked to. Normally, Alyssa would probably have stayed silent, allowing Fela to speak of whatever was on her chest. But not in a place like this. There were people all around. Despite the small bubble they had around them, likely because of Fela’s presence, plenty of people were obviously listening in.

No need to air such things publicly.

“Besides,” Alyssa said, trying to change the topic. “We did have to get up early. Iona would have been late to his job otherwise.” With one last squeeze of Fela’s shoulder, Alyssa let her hand drop back to her side. “Now, what do you say you and I head down to see Izsha and Dasca? We’re going to have to head a decent distance out of the city to find this thing.”

“That… sounds good. But can we get more?” Fela waved her last sausage back and forth. “The draken would love these.”

“I suppose we can,” Alyssa said, glad that she was being bankrolled by the princess. Speaking of… “You’ll be alright on your own?” she said as she turned back to Irulon.

“I can make my own way around the markets.”

“Understood. In that case…”

They parted ways. Alyssa and Fela, after a quick stop back at the sausage stand, headed out to the east side of the city, outside the walls, and down the long path to the monster camp. Rokien was there, as he usually was, while Fezzik was out at the western wall. Alyssa took a few minutes to chat with him and make sure that nothing new had gone wrong. Thankfully, nothing had. Food supplies were adequate, they had just gotten some new blankets and cots, and another few monsters were looking to integrate a bit more with the human city. The latter group had apparently been inspired by Alyssa’s recruitment of the new jailhouse guard.

With no emergencies inside the camp, Alyssa felt free to bid Rokien farewell and head right into the large tent that the draken had taken for themselves.

Ensou was, of course, gone. Both it and Brakkt were still heading out to Trik to investigate the demon situation, which Alyssa was still hoping was just a one-off anomaly. Musca, Izsha, and Dasca were all hanging out, however. Lazily, it looked like. The sun had been up for a few hours now but they all looked like they were still half asleep. Not that it really mattered much. They didn’t exactly have a job down here in the monster camp.

Despite looking like they hadn’t fully woken up yet, the moment Fela entered holding out three sausages, they all jumped to their feet and crowded around the hellhound. Fela practically shoved her hands into their mouths as she distributed the sausages, not caring at all about the sharp teeth right next to her hands.

Alyssa gave them a few minutes to enjoy their snack. Not that they needed that long—they practically swallowed the things whole, which really made Alyssa wonder just why they were so excited about getting them in the first place. Wasn’t the whole point of good food the taste? “Izsha. Dasca. And Musca, if you want to go, but Irulon isn’t here and she won’t be joining us. We need to head out for a few hours in search of a giant snake. You all feeling up for that?”

The answer, as it turns out, was a resounding yes. They didn’t say so with words, but it was close enough. Even Musca seemed excited to go. Alyssa assumed that they were getting a bit of cabin fever. As she got the saddle ready for Izsha—Musca had no rider and Fela didn’t care whether or not she had a saddle on Dasca—she could practically feel them vibrate in anticipation. By the time they actually got moving, Musca in particular was chomping at the bit… though she didn’t actually have a bit—none of the draken did even when they were equipped with saddles.

The information Alyssa got from Tenebrael wasn’t perfect. She knew the rough direction of their culprit—which did seem to be an actual apophis, according to Tenebrael—but there weren’t many landmarks or locations that Alyssa was familiar with south of the city. Which was one of the main reasons Alyssa had Fela with her. Her hope was that the draken and Fela could use their sense of smell to pinpoint the snake once they narrowed down the possible locations.

Unfortunately, even after three hours of running around where Alyssa thought Tenebrael had said to go, they had yet to find anything. She had thought it would be easy for them, well away from the burning bodies to the north that might interfere with their noses. Now that they had been having such trouble, Alyssa remembered reading something. Snakes didn’t actually have much smell on their own. They didn’t have hair, feathers, or even dander. Punctually shedding their skin took away much of the smells that might have gathered on their body from slithering through dirt and other foul-smelling substances.

Which, in retrospect, might have helped hide the identity of the attacker more than anything when Alyssa and Fela had been investigating the actual scene of the crime.

Despite the setback, Alyssa didn’t want to simply head home. This was one of those things that she felt she couldn’t delegate to someone else. Maybe Brakkt or Volta if they were here, but they weren’t.

If there was one good thing about roaming an hour south of Illuna, it was the land. Namely, it wasn’t a swamp as would have been the case if they had gone further west. A bit marshy, it was true. Wet, but not like… wet. Or rather, it was like there were tons of baby-sized rivers with plenty of grass-covered islands dotted around. For the draken, who could jump quite incredible distances, they were able to traverse the land such that they barely got their toes wet.

“Wait,” Fela said from where she was riding alongside Alyssa. “Where did Musca go?”

Blinking, Alyssa glanced around. There weren’t any large trees around, but a thick brush of cattails, willows, and other plant-life stuck up a decent way. It shouldn’t have been enough to hide a fully grown draken, but if Musca was trying to hide, it wouldn’t be an issue at all. As she was thinking about that, a sudden thought that a giant snake might have a much easier time hiding and perhaps hunting in this terrain made her fear for Musca’s safety.

“Musca!” Alyssa shouted. “Fela, Izsha, you can smell Musca at least, right?” The draken were lizards as well and had a similar lack of reasons to smell as the apophis did, but Izsha and Dasca at least were intimately familiar with Musca. There had to be something. Pheromones or just a scent that nobody else would notice. Something like that.

Both took off running at Alyssa’s question. Both in the same direction. Hopefully that meant that her suspicion was correct and not them simply charging in a random direction.

As they charged over the cattails and… whatever other plants lived in a marsh that Alyssa couldn’t put a name to, she spotted something off in the distance. Roughly in the same direction that the draken were taking her. At first, she didn’t quite know what she was looking at. A long crystal lattice poking out just above the marsh’s plants. White and translucent, enough so that the sunlight hitting it made it almost look like it was glowing. The closer she got, the longer she realized it was. From the length of a small car to the length of a school bus and even longer.

It was hollow as well. There was a hole in one side, small enough that Alyssa had to duck behind Izsha’s head, but the interior was large enough that she could sit upright, though only barely. Dasca, being a larger draken, actually had to squat down a bit, moving slower as it crouched. Fela had to hop off its back as well.

The inside was fairly beautiful and, notably, clear of debris. It was empty, not quite perfectly circular being flatter along the bottom. With the slight transparency of the lattice, Alyssa could see the ground underneath. Or rather, the plants. They had been flattened almost completely, but they were on the other side of the crystal lattice.

Reaching out, Alyssa could touch the ceiling of the crystal from Izsha’s back. It was surprisingly hard. Not nearly as brittle as it looked. Smooth too, though with odd ridges at regular intervals.

It clicked, seeing that this entire tunnel was lying on top of the ground and not part of it. This tunnel that she was inside had to be the shed skin of the apophis. It went on for… quite a long time. At least a short jog from one end to the other. Was this the same apophis that Rokien had spoken of? Had it gone through a growth spurt or was this his idea of smaller? He was a giant compared to humans, and it was true that this skin wouldn’t reach from the monster camp clear to the city walls, but…

Damn.

A monster as big as this skin could have swallowed Musca whole. Though, if it had, hopefully Musca would tear her way out. And if it hadn’t swallowed Musca whole, Alyssa imagined that the draken would have made at least some noise in fighting for its life. Noise that Fela should have heard with her large ears.

Just as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Alyssa heard a sharp, drakanic shout echoed down the tunnel.