The Clutch of Sharys: Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter 33: In Which Bree is Completely Fair and Reasonable

The Godbeast told them, "As I see the world, so activate my eyes, and I will create its images in the heavens. Fight what you will, and triumph for being strong, but no longer will you tear apart this land with the fruit of me and my partner’s union.

Finding the inn's door still standing slightly ajar after she had left it that way while chasing her dragon, Cara felt somewhat guilty as she closed it behind her upon their return. The room was a stark contrast to its state earlier that day, the lack of living voices filling the walls leaving an eerie silence in their wake. Every step across the wooden floor sounded thunderous to Cara, every stair’s creak a sudden wail announcing her return. 

She was part of the way up the stairs when she heard the ringing sound of a sword being drawn, the noise originating from the direction of her room. Heart thudding, Cara quickly scampered up the last few steps as quietly as she could before cautiously opening the door to a scene of flurried reactions and outbursts. Bree and Petra stood closest to the door, weapons drawn and fully clothed, the Princess wore a loose blouse over her tightly tailored pants, and Bree had thrown on a jacket and shoes, choosing to always sleep in her clothes. 

Ahnn was sleepily sitting on Cara's bed, halfway through pulling up her dark overcoat, swords haphazardly propped near the foot of the bed. Cheska appeared to only just woken up, only wearing a long undershirt, legs still covered by blankets. The monk's streak of brown curly hair was mussed and loose from its short ponytail, her knuckle coverings on the couch’s arm, carelessly discarded.

Upon setting eyes on Cara, all of them reacted nearly simultaneously. 

"Where have you been? Are you alright?" Bree asked, whirling on Cara with a concerned look.

"What happened to you?" Petra asked at the same time, eyeing the bruises and scrapes on Cara's face with a shocked expression. 

Cheska shot Cara a relieved grin and leaned back onto the couch, out like a light. 

Ahnn gave a slight groan, following the monk’s lead and curling up into a little ball, hair strewn out behind her in a voluminous pile. 

"I'm fine." Cara said, placing the rebellious dragon on the floor and giving her an odd look. She would need to figure out why the dragon brought her out to a fight later, but for now, she had a set of concerned women sweeping her bodily from the room away from the sleeping people and into the other inn room where they could continue their interrogation. Petra and Ahnn's room was the mirror image of the one they had left behind, only the beds were of a different style, and the couch had a red covering instead of green. 

Cara took several deep breaths as Bree steered her to the couch, sitting Cara down and perching on the other end. Petra paced instead of sitting, tracking an agitated oval in front of the crackling fireplace. "Talk." The Princess ordered, looking at Cara with accusatory green eyes.

  "I… I just woke up to her dashing out of the room." Cara said, inwardly flinching at how weak her words sounded as she gestured towards the little dragon near the fire. "So I followed, but I was half asleep and not thinking about it." 

"Clearly." Bree said, eyes flashing. 

"You couldn't have just said something?" Petra inquired, shooting Bree a look that told her to tone it down. 

"Again, I wasn't cognizant of anything other than the fact that my dragon somehow darted out of a locked room." Cara fought to keep her voice down, fists clenched by her side.

"Fine, you didn’t think when you left." Bree said, changing to a different point as she gestured towards Cara’s neck. "Who choked you?" 

Petra cocked an eyebrow at Cara, indicating that she, too, awaited an answer. 

"There might have been a slight altercation in a dark alley." Cara admitted, "That was where I caught up to my dragon." 

"You should have turned back then." Bree said, her voice firm. 

"They didn't give me a choice, I was going to leave, and they spotted me-" 

"Then you should have run." Bree cut in, "You should have come back here, got us, and if they had been fool enough to follow you, we would have slain them in the streets like the scum that they are." 

"They threw me back with some air magic!" Cara burst back in. "I tried to leave, and I got thrown around like a sack of potatoes." 

Bree arched an eyebrow at her, "They wouldn't have been able to do that more than two or three times unless they were compellingly powerful, you know that." 

Cara threw up her hands, getting up off the couch and walking over to the small glass window that looked out onto the street. "It was the middle of the moment, Bree! Their dragon wasn’t exactly present in that dark, tightly cramped alley for me to check their horns." 

"Then scream for help. I’m sure someone, if not us, would've heard you." Bree snapped, crossing her arms.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t scream while having the life choked out of me!”

"You don't have to accept every fight that crosses your path, Cara. You need to be careful."

“Like you’re careful, Bree? I’ve never seen you walk away from a fight, let alone the fact that you’re usually the cause of them.”

“Just because I would do it does not make it a good idea.” Bree said emphatically, gesturing at the guilty dragonling curled up by the fire. "Be careful. If not for our sakes, then for hers. She could get killed when she's this small. All it takes is quick a snap of the ne-"

"I know, Bree!" Cara snapped, her voice trembling. "I’ve seen it happen." 

Bree's eyes went wide as a hand flew up to cover her mouth. "I'm sorry, that-" 

"I know." Cara said, looking away. She took in a deep shuddering breath before speaking again. "You're right. She’s still fragile while being this young. I'll be more careful." An old memory choked her throat as she spoke, the thought of two hands on her dragon's neck enough to shatter her pride into a million pieces. 

"I wasn't thinking when I said that." Bree said gently, leaning forward. "I was worried about you and it just came out."

Petra looked up from where she had paused in front of the fire to listen. "It sounds like aside from being a thoughtless clod, Cara tried to act responsibly." 

"Hey!" Cara said, protesting the nickname. 

"Hush, clod." Petra responded, raising a finger. 

Bree let out a snort of amusement from beside Cara, dodging the elbow tossed at her ribs shortly after. 

"So you escaped at some point." Petra cut back in, her tone serious once more. 

"Well, aside from the two that attacked me, the rest were focused on the person they were attacking, some Cetnan with a weird necklace. I believe they were looking for something, though I'm not sure what. They took care of the lot and left."

"Fine, enough." Petra waved her hand. "We should go to sleep and discuss the rest in the morning. There's a negotiation tomorrow, and we'll need our rest for it." 

"I'm taking Ahnn's bed." Bree announced, giving Cara another look of silent apology before flopping down on the mattress. Cara wordlessly remained on the couch, gingerly laying down and lowering her head as she tried to get comfortable, shifting back and forth several times before finding a position to lie in. The fire in front of it gently lapped waves of warmth over her body, sweeping into her bones and relaxing her. Her arm dangled down and brushed the floor as she stared into the flames, considering the sleeping little dragon nearby. 

What had she been trying to accomplish? Did she bring Cara there for the fight, or was it just a coincidence? The many mysteries and questions she had unanswered swirled around in her head even after she fell into a fitful sleep. 

They descended the city streets the next day, dressed in the nicest clothes they had brought and well equipped for a battle of words, finance, and policy. "Pretty fancy houses down here." Cheska said, looking up towards the ceiling. "Rather bright too, for how far down we are." 

Ahnn said nothing, looking away with a blank expression that Cara was sure hid at least some annoyance. Before they left that morning and after they had explained what happened the night before, Ahnn had spent almost half of an hour trying to persuade the monk to wear shoes to the meeting. The compromise they had reached was Cheska putting them on once they arrived, but the proper young lady was not entirely mollified by the outcome. 

"Remember to behave." Petra said, adjusting the coronet that lay on her head. Cara had been shocked to see Ahnn pull it out that morning, but Petra had insisted that for something this official, it was necessary. The black of the steel stood out against her pale blond hair, the cloudy gem in the middle now a deep, amber yellow.

"Wasn't that blue before?" Cara asked, hurrying to keep pace with Petra's long strides. "I noticed it earlier, but I didn't ask." Cocking her head slightly, Petra looked down at Cara before asking, "Have you looked at the bracer my father gave you at the feast?" 

The question was so unexpected that it took Cara a fair amount of time to remember what Petra was referring to. Casting her mind back, she vaguely remembered tossing it on a side table in her room after returning from the feast and not seeing it since. "I don't know where it is." Cara said truthfully, looking quizzically at the princess. 

"Ah, well, probably for the best then." Petra said mysteriously, sweeping ahead.

"It's a fragment of the holy shard." Bree whispered in Cara's ear, "One of the original pieces of the godbeast's eye. A symbol of authority and favor from the King of Netis so she can declare shardcombat should she feel the need to protect the kingdom's interests or her own." 

Cara looked over at her. "How do you know that?" She asked, curious. 

"Anya has a similar gem in her crown." Bree said simply, shrugging. "They're not official matches with commentary, but the terms are still sacred and absolute." 

"You sound like you fought in some." Cara commented as they slowly came to a stop outside what looked like a giant hedge with a golden, engraved plate in it. 

Bree just shot her a quick grin, staying silent as the group fell into line, waiting for Petra to speak. 

"So what, we just knock on the hedge?" Cheska asked, silence answering her. 

"We're here to see Baron Veshmi." Ahnn declared, taking a step forward and looking up at that wall. Nothing happened, the leaves stayed still, and the golden plate shone. 

"We were told to find the golden plate in the green wall." Petra murmured, looking it up and down before snapping her fingers. "Accursed Cetnans are so transactional." She complained, pulling an imprinted scale and several smaller ones, placing the lot onto the plate. 

Immediately, the leaves of the hedge trembled as though waking up after a long sleep and gradually withdrew from their intricate, woven wall. They undulated and made a soft, slithering sound as the whispers of many leaves greeted the group. Behind the wall stood a sandy-headed servant, roughly their age and wearing crisp, white clothes and holding another golden plate. 

"Again?" Bree said, exasperated when the servant did not move or acknowledge them. Behind him stood a lush, curated garden, leading up to one of the houses they had seen coming down. "How do they get this to grow down here?" Cheska marveled, gently tapping a leaf with her finger. "The sun doesn't reach this far down. There’s no way." 

"Perhaps not, but riders do." Petra responded, placing an emblazoned scale on the plate. Immediately, the servant turned on their heel, walking away and raising a hand. As the servant walked, they splayed their fingers apart before bringing them into a pinched union, fluidly repeating the motion several times. Behind their turned back, the slithering vines stirred, desperately reaching for their counterparts on the opposite side. 

Hastening forward, the girls were escorted into a lavishly decorated house, filled with long hallways and gilded pedestals atop which different curios and collectibles were displayed. The ceiling over their heads was covered with many long, billowing pieces of red patterned silk, neatly tailored to end at the edges of the walls. Lanterns had been lit above the cloth, casting a dulled, scarlet glow into the room. 

At the back of the thickly carpeted hall, a pair of doors waited, cast in bronze and depicting a cloud of dragons descending onto an enormous creature that encircled a sphere. Two guards, dressed in similar white outfits to their escort, opened the doors to the fabric-lined chamber within, waving them through. Cara looked around and realized that her dragon wasn't with them, spotting the little creature partway down the hall, sniffing at something obscured by a giant sculpture of a peacock in flight. 

"Get back here." Cara whispered, waving the dragon over to her side. Reluctantly, the silver creature turned and took off, flapping her wings to cover the short distance to Cara's side. She landed neatly on all fours, head now coming up to Cara's knee, which also happened to be near Cara's hand. Immediately, her fingers were head-butted by a pair of sharp silver horns that demanded attention. 

Scratching the dragon quickly as she walked, Cara hurried to catch up the few steps to the rest of the group who had halted and were looking at their host. 

Baron Veshmi lay before them, reclined on an enormous black cushion near the back wall while reading a long piece of paper held open between two fingers. A lithe, smooth-headed person with dark, inky kohl lining the edges of their large, pale eyes, something about the glint held within their grey depths put Cara at ease even though they had yet to look at her. Their eyes were currently occupied with reading the missive, but they finished quickly and neatly folded it up, gaze flicking back and forth in thought. 

Calling out a single, fluid word of Cetnan, the person handed the paper to the servant who scurried forward, marking something in a small book before accepting the message. Leaning forward slightly, Cara glimpsed what looked like a business ledger, with a list of transactions and dates.

"They're paid by the day." their host explained, looking over at their guests for the first time. They were dressed in a beautifully embroidered vest over loose black pants, the waist fitted and high on their flat abdomen as the legs flared out towards the bottom. Grey eyes flicked over Ahnn and Cara dismissively, hovering for a moment on Cheska's impressive height. When the Baron reached Petra, they hopped to their feet and took a step forward, inclining the shining dome of their bare head. 

"Welcome, your Highness. I do hope you're enjoying your stay in our shining jewel of a city?" Their voice went up on the end like their statement was a question, fluttering ring-covered fingers in a vague gesture around them.

Petra gave them a cordial smile. "It is a city unlike any other." She said, inclining her head in turn. 

The Baron slowly turned their head to the last member of the retinue, a smile spreading across their face as they faced her. "As breathtaking as your mother." They murmured, dulcet tones filled with affection as they placed their hands on Bree's shoulders. "How is Diana faring these days? I was surprised at the unusual communication from her." 

“Mother is well. She's quite enjoyed settling into her role, caring for the familial lands after great-grandmother passed." Bree responded with a sweet smile, lowering her eyes. Cara had to resist the urge to shake her head at the sight of her wild, headstrong friend playing the demure courtesan. 

"It is good to hear that. I am sure that the lands and people of Dal will continue to prosper under her management." Baron Veshmi replied, walking back towards their cushion. "Sit! Sit." They said as they did that exact thing, gesturing to the many pillows piled around the walls of the room.

"We have some business to discuss, I think, a certain matter of gambling my resources on a certain Netian Game." The Baron's eyes fixed on Petra as they said that, countenance changing to a serious exterior as the group obliged, settling down and waiting for the beginning of their negotiation.