The Drake of Craumont

In the eyes that watch me as we climb the steps, something has shifted. A gleam that burns at a different angle, a star flickering in colors I’d not felt before. The ache slips past my skin and scales as if they weren’t there, peering at the raw flesh beneath. It wavers but never fully wanes, even as I speed my way to the top of the steps. The hissing and clawing thing within me leaps up to my heart, curling around it protectively.

They saw what memories lay beneath, and part of me loathes itself for that. I let it hate and seethe in silence, turning my gaze to the people pooling into the hallway after me. Verity, Lena, Ruby, Lizzie— looking, wondering, thinking, worrying.

Verity clears her throat. It’s a musical sound, a two-toned wash over my cracked soul. “Before we do anything else, Ivy, I’ve got to ask you a question.”

She steps past me, turning to bore those bright yellow eyes into my skull. They sweep across my body, plucking at raw nerves and bruised flesh... then they soften, as she meets my gaze. “Ivy, are you alright?”

I take a breath. No. Gods, no, I’m not alright. My tail wants to slam into the floor until the wood breaks, I want to punch and scream and roar until my heart stops hurting. But I know none of that will really help; breaking things doesn’t make me feel more whole.

Lena’s hand slipping into my own does help, though, and I do my best to squeeze hers gently.

“Well as I can be, really,” I say instead, testing my tongue on my teeth. I should say more, shouldn’t I? “Had years to come to terms with it. Just hurts to go back.”

Lizzie and Lena’s exhales are timed perfectly to their hearts slowing in rhythm. Verity’s isn’t far behind, Ruby... well, Ruby is staring at me strangely, as always, and she even nods at my words.

“I’ll take it,” Verity declares, clapping her hands together. Her smile is brittle, but the warmth remains. “So, what do you say we get some tea and plan our next move? I’ve got half a plan we can fit together with the three-fourths Ruby probably has.”

“Pleasse,” I take a deep breath, curl my tailtip up into my free hand, and gather myself in the rhythm of claws on scales. “It’s more than I have.”

“With pleasure,” Verity trills. She puts a hand over her mouth, blinks, and yawns. “If not enthusiasm. Bleh. Onwards!”

There’s a painfully quiet moment as her words push through the choking air. Her smile falls flat, her beautiful voice dwarfed by unearthed memories.

“Yes,” Ruby declares, and the moment breaks, “Tea will assist with focus and planning. I require snacks as well.”

Lena goes next, ears flattened against her skull, her hand tugging me along. I can see those gears churning in her head, and I resolve to give her a hug later.

As we exit that impossible hallway, I reach out— offering what magic I can push through my soul to the Manor. The Manor takes it with a burst of warmth over my shoulders, but it responds to my intent with a sigh of settling boards.

Cannot forget again. The warmth sharpens, then, from intent to a thought bordering on proper words: You shouldn’t either.

“Bah,” I growl out, tailtip flicking from side to side. The rumbling of my chest soothes me further, but it’s never enough.

Lena looks up, head tilted adorably, ears twitching to match. “Ah?”

“My own house is giving me advice now, apparently.”

Her turquoise eyes sparkle in response. “It can do that?” She twists to look at the broom and dustpan as they float past, her hand dragging mine as she goes. “You can do that?”

The broom somehow manages an approximation of a shrug. I remind myself for what might be the hundredth time that I should really, really get around to fixing those enchantments. I’m sure the books are around here somewhere...

And I’m feeling just a little better by the time we get to Benny, by the time I’m wrapping them in my arms for a dearly-needed hug. Gods, I needed this.

Why didn’t I just give Lena a hug earlier, when I felt the urge? Hm.

“Lord Winston sent notice that he will be arriving within two hours, madam,” they say, extricating themselves from my arms and stepping over my curled tail. “I believe your escapades today drew his notice.”

I snort, tail uncurling. “Be more worried if they didn’t.” I turn, glancing at Verity. “Not sure we can stick around that long, though.”

Verity opens her mouth, closes it, and frowns. After a strangely flanged hum, she says, “Actually? I think we will be. Some of us, at least. Depends on what Ruby thinks, and...”

She gestures toward a rather focused Ruby, who nods curtly. “We will discuss our plans.”

Reeling in her gesture, Verity shifts into a shrug. “Anyways, there’s a chance.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if we went out together?” Lena tilts her head, ears twitching. Her hands curl in, one near her waist, the other toying with her hair. “After tea, though. Um, I don’t think any of us are really ready to do much after... that.”

That. Yes.

“I daresay I’d miss a near quarter of my daggers and spells,” Lizzie sighs theatrically, but the crackle in her voice is enough to make me wince. “After... that, yes. Tea would be excellent. Benny, will you be a dear and lead us on?”

“Of course, madams,” Benny says, eyes twinkling, one gloved hand delicately adjusting a curl of their own white hair. “Right this way. I have prepared tea and pastries for your enjoyment.”

I step forward, tail spooling out behind me, and follow Benny’s lead.

The eyes on my back burn— with worry and curiosity, and I’m not sure which annoys me more.

For all the urgency swirling around us, there’s a few breaths of calm in the lounge Benny seats us in. Verity, leaning against the wall with a pastry in one hand and tea in the other; Lena, curled up on the other side of the couch I sit myself upon; Lizzie fixing her hair in the reflection of a knife...

And Ruby, practically upending a jar of honey into her tea. She’s lucky that I personally stocked the kitchen with extra, frankly.

Then the calm ends with Verity clearing her throat. The pastry is gone, the tea is drained, and the eyes in the room finally steer their focus away from me.

"First," Verity says, holding up a finger. "We really, really do need to locate Dongbaek's hideout tonight, before he has a chance to fully evacuate. They definitely know we're onto them, after all. Ivy and Detective Gelson—"

She pauses for less than a heartbeat, glancing to Ruby. "—put together a method of finding it using... well, Magesight, to go by Ard Judician terms. We've got a narrowed area and Delveway points inside it to check, so we just have to check those. Ach, throat's starting to dry. One moment."

Magesight. Bah, I’ve heard that one before, haven’t I? Bit silly a term, given anyone with enough skill with Magic can use it. Interpretation works better and explains more, frankly.

Verity takes a long draft of tea, her white-yellow eyes flickering across the room. She punctuates her sip with a soft groan, looking longingly at a chair. "Goddess. Right! So, Ivy and I really shouldn't be out and about, and Lena doesn't quite have the skill yet to muck with abstraction. Dame Tousavon, how's your Magesight?"

Shouldn’t be out and about, she says. Is that why she only has half a plan? Factoring in two healing souls, when our magic is limited? Hm. Or maybe...

“To use the Imperial terminology, my abstract sight is, ah, not the best,” Lizzie replies, gliding over to a plush chair. She sits, legs crossed daintily, and reaches for a cup of tea. “Mm. Yes, floral notes and a touch of honey, perfectly steeped. Thank you, Benny. I’ve most often used the sight to inspect the city wards with my cousin, and that’s not quite the same. Hm, perhaps...”

Her eyes flash a rich green for a heartbeat, and her nose scrunches up. “Oh, that’s a quick path to a headache. No, I’ll need some pointers if I’m to use that. Do continue, Verity?”

I can already come up with one point— she hadn’t closed her eyes to shut out her sight while seeing the abstract. If it gives a trained Delver a headache, it’d give someone untrained a migraine at best. I resolve to tell her in a bit, stowing it away behind my enjoyment of tea and the worry about Verity’s plan.

Verity hums in response, stopping only to take another sip of tea and snatch another pastry from the tray. “Right. Hm. Ivy can probably help with that. Anyway, I don’t have a search pattern, but I propose that Dame Tousavon and Detective Gelson continue the search, assuming we can get her Magesight up to snuff. Maybe Lena too, if she can help?”

She takes a massive bite of her pastry, chewing thoughtfully and licking her lips. Her eyes dance around mine, watching without allowing me to meet her gaze.

“And the rest of us?” I drawl, raising an eyebrow. My tail shifts, curling its way around the leg of the sofa in a string of soft clicks. “Can’t use too much magic right now, but I can enhance my senses and fight well. Same with you, really, and Lena’s enough of a Mage that she might be able to start on abstract sensing.”

I say it, and yet I think I know damned well what Verity’s going to say instead. There’s a temptation to test her, to peer into her eyes and challenge her to say words she knows I’ll loathe.

But this is a Paladin of Adamantine, and a woman I know has a will to match my own. She must have been in absolute agony as we climbed up through the Delve, after all, and she held herself together nearly as well as I did.

So I set my tea down with a too-loud clink-scrrch of porcelain on porcelain, and let the ever-churning anger in my chest rumble and seethe. “Not what you’re planning, though. You want us to stay here, don’t you.”

Yellow eyes meet mine and hold, with all the steel I’d expected. How dare she, when Dongbaek is still out there? When the hunt is unfinished, my prey still able to sink its claws into others?

“I do,” Verity says smoothly, inclining her head. “I’m ready to argue the point, too.”

I bare my teeth, part humor but mostly irritation. “Wouldn’t exsspect any lesss,” I hiss out. Lizzie’s lips part, Ruby’s eyes glitter with unspoken plans. Neither will get the chance, not before I’ve made myself clear. “No point to make. I’m—”

“She’s right!”

Lena’s voice rushes over my own, loud enough for my ears to twinge. I watch her shift at the corner of my vision, hands splayed out and tensed over her thighs. She doesn’t quite wilt under the room’s attention, but it’s a near thing.

“Verity’s right,” Lena says, quieter this time. Her turquoise eyes gleam with those ever-churning cogs, and she too holds my gaze without flinching. “And... um. Y-you know, I think you know that, too.”

“I’m a quick study at magic, dear, and I can handle far more of it than you can, at the moment,” Lizzie leaps into the fray, leaning forward in her chair. “Lena is quite right. Ruby, be a dear and support us?”

Ruby, in a moment of agonizing quiet, inclines her head. “Paladin Greyfeather,” she begins, voice firm, “Is correct, to my understanding.”

Their eyes burn tracks across my body, looking for scars my scales would never show. Why would I stay here, hiding away like something fragile? They are waiting, watching for the fractures, ready to gather up whatever parts of me are left behind.

I hate it.

Crrk.

The wood of the sofa leg groans, and I yank my tail away from it. Some spills onto my lap, some curls around my leg. With my body anchored, my mind may churn further, drawing up plans from the depths. Yes, I should teach Lizzie no matter what, maybe have Lena along to see if she can learn the basics. That part is fine. Verity can’t manage much magic, but if she’s... hah.

She’s in the same spot.

Fine. Fine. Deep breaths, Ivy. Let the fury go, because Goddess, Verity’s right and I hate that.

“Ruby,” I snap, turning my focus to the detective. She’s sipping at her mostly-honey tea, watching me quietly. “The artificer might be able to see wards as well. Ask them, if they’re willing, pay them out of the city coffers if you need to. Any other plans I should know about, or should I get started on teaching Lizzie?”

The sofa shifts, and Lena’s heartbeat moves closer to my own. She exhales softly, but at this distance I can hear everything from the rustle of fur to the rasp of her tongue against dry lips. She whispers a thank you, one I reply to with a raised eyebrow. Her cheeks flush red, and she turns to look at Ruby.

“I will think about it,” Ruby decides, and speaks no further. Hah.

Verity’s shoulders slacken at the corner of my vision, the steel in her eyes sheathed. “Goddess,” she exhales, reaching for her tea, “You know, I had to argue myself out of going, first. I think I know how you feel.”

Lizzie shifts, drawing my eye and offering a thin smile. “Sensible, I hope, just as my cousin has chosen to be. I’m sure the best Mage in Craumont can teach the third best—”

“I’m a Delver, not a Mage,” I correct, entirely by reflex. “So you’d be the best, or Winnie, I suppose. Verity doesn’t count, she’s a Paladin, they do things differently.” I add the last part just as Lena opens her mouth to, presumably, ask, and I take a bit of joy in watching her lips press together once more.

“Goddess, I’m so tempted to go up the stairs with that one. Er, get into the weeds, to use the western phrase,” Verity snorts, pouring herself another cup of tea. “But the Detective and Dame Tousavon need to get going soon, so...”

She makes a vague gesture at herself, then at Lizzie, then me. “Well, we’ll save it for after.”

“Semantics, really?” Lizzie says with a sigh, one hand up to tuck away a loose strand of blonde hair. “I was trying to compliment her, and now it’s been assaulted on two fronts. I suppose I can suffer through being the best in the city. Now, Detective, is there anything that’s occurred to you, or should I get on with my work with Ivy?”

Ruby shakes her head, eyes focused elsewhere. “Proceed. Paladin Greyfeather’s plan is functional, and I have tea to consume while I make additions.”

I make to rise, taking care not to displace Lena too much— she’d managed to bring the distance between us down to a quarter of where we started, close enough that I have to snake my tail around to avoid hitting her with it.

“Do you mind if, ah. Can I come and watch?” Lena says, rising only a moment later. She brushes herself off, ears flattening as she turns her focus back to me. “I’ve only read about Magesight, but, um, it’d be fascinating to see wards directly! And I could help, if we ever need to look for things like this again—”

I hold up a hand for her to stop, and she does. There’s nothing to mull over here; she has a point, once again. “Sure. Come on, then. We’ll go into my study, pretty sure that’s where I left the book.”

Lena beams, hands flexing, ears shooting straight up. “O-oh! Thank you, I’ve been wondering for ages how it works. They never show any structures or mental frameworks for it in the books, so I haven’t really been able to try!”

Chuckling, Lizzie rises smoothly from her chair, uncrossing her legs in the same motion. “I do remember you being a vivacious teacher, Ivy,” she says, eyes gleaming and pupils slit, “Though if it’s as boring as you say, extra company will help, won’t it? Yes, do come along, Lena.”

She catches my gaze out of the corner of her eye, holding it as she strides for the door. “Let’s leave our Paladin and Detective to hammer out our schemes, hm?”

Ruby frowns. “We are planning, not scheming. Paladin Greyfeather will assist me in mapping observation routes around the Delveway points.”

The stares do not fade— the burning gazes across raw skin, the worry that stings like salt buried into wounds; I hate it as I always have. But there’s work to be done... and I leave the room feeling far lighter than when I entered it.

I pray to Adamantine that the feeling will last, knowing damned well it won’t.