Gelfid failed to elicit any clarification from Queen Ydridd as to her actual position in the kingdom, and making a virtue of ambiguity, she resolved to announce to the army her intention of taking charge during the general's absence. “How many of them will follow I'm sure I don't know, but do you think fifty is enough to distract the brigands, or must I gather eighty? More?”
No longer did she conduct negotiations in tawdry boarding houses. Atkosol granted her immunity from harassment by his employees when Skadlif Derogillen applied for it, swearing on his reputation as a man of honor against whom no living person worth considering had legitimate cause for complaint that doing so would redound to Mr. Atkosol's benefit. When apprised that she was free to travel as she wished, she reacted with confusion. “Was I not before?” she asked Dirant.
“The usual definition of freedom does not include being detained in the city district to deprive Queen Ydridd of your advice which, as flummoxed as you must often feel, is a definite improvement over her own ideas. That you would be subjected to such is far from certain given the legal complexities as well as your understandable and widely understood lack of loyalty to the queen, and yet.”
Amazement shoved confusion to stand on the platform beside it where it might receive the second-place prize. “I never thought of that. I might have been in a predicament! It's a relief to me that you're as confidentially inclined as you are, Mr. Dirant.”
“Thank you.” Speaking to someone in a way that might be construed as accusatory after receiving a compliment from said person, while not indisputably rude, had a whiff of poor breeding about it. Nevertheless, Dirant made curiosity his guide. “For what reason then did you communicate with me in such a roundabout manner if not to evade broader notice?”
“I only had Miss Wiuyo leave a letter for you to find, nothing roundabout,” Miss Gelfid said, leaving the Kitslofer with a sense that the several states of Greater Enloffenkir differed culturally more than he previously suspected.
That was a mere social nuance brought up after everyone agreed on the important points such as fixing the day for the operation. When it came, fairyland felt the advent of the Silken Gull Squad, as it pleased Skadlif Derogillen to label his assemblage of experts on violent resolutions to otherwise intractable disputes for the duration of the operation.
“The reference is to a bold brigand suppression campaign waged by a genius,” he explained. “I remember none of the details. Now then.”
With that and the assistance of Wiuyo, who promised to pick them up after the battle (what she would do in the eventuality such did not occur remained vague), the squad entered the border regions at the very moment when, if the spirit of cooperation held, Captain Gelfid was exhorting Ydridd's army to march in defense of its general.
The border had expanded greatly, so much so that calling it a border invited criticism. Unclaimed territory, some preferred to label it. The fairy realms no longer fit neatly into the spaces between spokes, and political maps of the place could be reproduced by spilling cider on a painter's palette on account of the various minor holdings, the inconsistent coverage of the city district over the three it was replacing, and the by that point incontrovertible increase of the world's overall size. The exact reasons for and implications of such alterations worried the theoretical thinkers, while the practical concerned themselves with the ogres and other entities which roamed the borderlands after the dissolution of their accustomed habitats.
Among other problems, they regretted the awkwardness of saying “entity” over and over. Some tried adding “sprites” for variety, but that did not solve the underlying problems. That fairies did not belong to the broad category of “monster” was accepted, but the position of ogres, Hill Riders, Lying Dice, and other fixtures of tales told to children relative to either group or to one another was unclear. Some modeled everything in fairyland as several branches of a larger grouping along the lines of animal species, while others suggested each to be a separate and singular creation. Worse, on this single point fairies did not avoid questions but rather stated frankly they had always been puzzled about the subject. Gabdirn himself, the former Jiojjil rather than the current Heweker, remained in the region once released from captivity and participated in the inquiries, debates, and experiments involving monster-related class abilities.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
As fascinating those areas of study were, not just to academics and scientifically minded gentlemen along with their primers but even to the general public for a month or two longer, the practical sort, to give him back his prominence, focused on the danger such entities presented to the traveler. Skadlif's group, as its members preferred to call it in spite of Mr. Skadlif's gentle reminders, drove away several ogres, a pair of chimeras, and something suspected to be a Bell Miser.
“Not for much reason. Simply that he looks it,” Skadlif said.
Takki tapped Dirant's arm. “If he was, I'm sad that we didn't capture him. Do you think the version which has him put his treasure in a bell because he doesn't realize the sound will drive him away is true, or does he make jars to store his treasure that people find and turn into bells because of the excellent craftsmanship?”
“I was unaware such variations existed,” Dirant admitted.
Mr. Skadlif however did not waste time worrying what he did not know. “I presume the former. He had the hands of a non-craftsman.” Such swift judgments, unreasonable as they seemed in the library or study, saved lives and won battles. They lost them too, and for that reason Skadlif did not resent subsequent debate on the subject after he delivered his own opinion. The scope widened to include the particulars of several sprites as well as the literary merits of various folk and fairy tales as collected from various regions of the continent, topics on which Skadlif had fewer opinions and the Brawny Knights rather more.
A group which included more mercenaries possessed of strong literary opinions might have fallen apart before it reached the bandit realm, especially when the countless adaptations of the Ayena story became impossible to resist addressing. Since however only three of them applied any enthusiasm beyond what casual conversation requires, and because Takki was willing to concede every folktale has its charm regardless of the craft with which it was assembled, no such loss of cohesion occurred before the Silken Gull Squad reached its destination.
Perhaps robbers outside of Greater Enloffenkir imagined the perfect hideout as something other than a fortress embedded in a wooded hill, and what an indictment of them that would be, with indulgence granted to land-deprived countries such as Eubosh Ashurit which had no recourse but to send their criminals out on ships. Ksori had provided himself to conceal his fastness an entire range of hills rich in arbors of a superb sort which nature, reluctant to encourage crime, refused the usual bandit.
The quality of the inhabitants did not match that of the locale. The mercenaries found disguised stations on branches and ledges, all of them empty of the sentries Iflarent's associates without question wanted to place there, their plans undone by deficient manpower and discipline. Still, the brotherhood would grow into its proper staff size if Ksori remained unmolested, for which reason the rescuers set about molesting him.
Auemoieu was a man who understood concealment. He discovered a trail blocked from view by a profusion of boulders and shrubs he considered excessively convenient. Even reaching the suspicious section required him to navigate around an escarpment which ended at a point where it appeared to be continuous. He stated in rough Adaban that the precautions impressed him, while admiration for his own accomplishment came from others more fluent in the language.
The squad withdrew then to await the signal Miss Gelfid had committed to sending upon arriving at the main entrance with whatever force she was able to raise. That signal consisted of a chariot directed by a fairy and pulled by crystal horses which raced around the district's perimeter some two hours later. Chariots of war, in Egillen at least, existed nowhere but in museum exhibits, the collections of wealthy amateur historians, and Ydridd's voluminous, eclectic treasury. Only one of those sources also had crystal horse sculptures capable of motion, for all that the amateur historians descended from Dvanjchtlivan heroes wished otherwise. The scarcity proved the provenance of the message, collaborators who wanted to see a chariot in actual use had claimed.
Skadlif opened his mouth, surveyed his Silken Gull Squad, and closed it again. “None of you need a speech,” he said, and if that was clearly a theatrical maneuver, the privilege of witnessing a true condottiero possessed of a significant Panache stat dissuaded his subordinates from pointing it out.
The group advanced to the rear passage and progressed along a twisty path. Its alternating long, straight sections and sudden contortions gave it the character of certain organs more familiar to the non-Ritualist members of the expedition than to the common man on account of incidental exposure. Dirant that day received an education in where his food went that aroused his pity for the countless meals he had put through that ugly process and the countless more he would consign to the same fate.
At regular distances they hopped fences, also disguised, and passed under ledges placed with purpose. “Such losses must be taken in storming this place, fully manned! Nature is kind to the defender while the attacker has Gumption alone,” a Reciter pronounced. Fortunately they ended up as neither because they reached the actual building without being forced into any action so unmannerly as getting into a fight.
