Chapter 15
VALEEN
S treet vendors shouted at passersby to come enjoy the tastes and styles of the city of Nelfara.
Exotic spices and smells of roasting meat drifted out among the large crowds gathered under the light drizzle of rain.
A breeze threatened to toss Valeen’s hood back, so she gripped the edges of the fabric.
It would be improbable odds for anyone to recognize her, but she couldn’t be too careful.
“Fresh spices from the hills of the goddess of the harvest! You won’t find any better!” shouted a male with a large round hat with a circular brim. Old brown feathers poked out of the left side.
There was a healthy mixture of demigods, humans, elves, dwarves, and shifters of many kinds in this city.
Runevale was the melting pot of the realms; before the way was shut, the gods and goddesses had brought many races from every known kingdom and system of the living to thrive in their territories.
Most thought of it as a gift to be chosen.
She had yet to spot a full-blooded god or goddess in the streets.
They rarely did their own shopping, and things hadn’t changed in her absence; most wouldn’t be caught doing such a “lowly” task, and would have no reason to be in the commoner markets.
Several streets over would be the stretch for the affluent, wealthy, and high-status families.
A street she’d avoid at all costs. Right now, she, Hel, and Thane needed to blend in as commoners.
A dwarf with a large, bushy beard braided into three plaits grinned up at her as she passed.
He waved his arm over a precious gold jewelry set on a table display.
“The finest gold for a fine lady. Perhaps one of you gents wants to purchase your partner a lovely necklace?” He stared up at Hel, whose face was half covered under his hood, hiding his distinctive rune marks and red eyes.
Looking startled he turned to Thane with a half-smile.
The gold pieces were likely fake or stolen at the prices listed and the fact that he wasn’t in an area where most people could afford such gaudy pieces. “Another time, dwarf,” Hel said in their mother tongue, the commonly spoken language on Runevale.
They walked on until someone gripped her wrist, she broke the hold, twisted the assailant’s arm and whirled to find a merchant grimacing with a bottle of bubbling pink liquid in his other hand. “My apologies, lady. I only wanted to show you the finest skin-perfecting potion in the territory.”
She squeezed a little harder, digging her nails into the skin of his forearm. “Do I look like I need it?”
His caterpillar-like black brows rose high on his forehead. “No, lady. I didn’t mean it that way. Your beauty is unmatched, lady. I only meant…”
Valeen released him. “It’s rude to grab someone to get their attention. Don’t do it again. Next time you might lose a hand.”
“Of course, lady.” He dipped his head and backed toward his stand.
Hel’s jaw muscles flickered, and his eyes darkened like a hawk set on diving for a mouse. “This place is testing my patience.”
Without him even saying a word she knew he was contemplating killing the merchant. “Don’t. We can’t afford to draw attention to ourselves right now. In and out, that was the plan.”
“If he disappears in the night that won’t be a problem.”
Thane glared at him too. “No one will know it was us.”
“Stop it, both of you.” She quickened her pace hoping they’d keep up and leave it alone.
There was a definite mysterious gloom about Rogue, the god of justice and order’s, territory.
Someone disappearing in the night may not seem all that out of the ordinary, especially in a city of at least half a million.
Tall evergreen trees loomed high around their destination outside of the main town.
A light drizzle from a heavy coat of gray clouds left the air humid.
Rogue, one of the eleven council members lived where high mountain ranges on one side and the sea on the other made for a perfect concoction of being the dreariest and greenest territory in Runevale.
They made their way through the city and followed the road to the beige-stoned castle with an aqua roof that looked to be made of terracotta tiles.
A clocktower at the east end was the highest peak but there were several turrets of various heights.
A quick scan of the many windows had Valeen guessing there were at least a hundred bedrooms in the four levels.
Standing behind a tall bush with dark blue berries, she inspected the grounds. Several guards walked the black iron fence surrounding the property, more at the entrances. The quiet buzz, almost like a swarm of bees, gave away the magical wards present.
A set of guards with tall metal-tipped spears in hand laughed loudly on top of their silver- and blue-feathered griffin mounts.
The large beaks of the creatures could easily tear off a limb, as could their razor-sharp talons on the front.
Their hindquarters were that of a large gray feline with a tail tipped with a tuft of black fur.
The guards all wore black domed hats with a wide brim and aqua-blue feathers peeking out on both sides. Although one of the males on a griffin wore white feathers in his hat. The colors must be of significance in ranking, Valeen thought.
Hel stepped out of the cover of the bushes, turning nearly transparent and pressed his palm to the invisible barrier. After a moment he glanced back at them, “The magic is weak. I’ll be able to teleport us in.”
Moments later the three of them stood in the center of a room with wide dramatic wood arches above.
Although the wall to the left was lined with many windows, it was dark and dreary enough outside to need more light.
The glow stones on the chandeliers were only marginally brighter than firelights and offered a soft ambiance.
Valeen scanned the many shelves filled with precious items—a bronze scepter in a glass case, a golden egg adored in rare rubies and sapphires, gaudy necklaces, and the skeleton of a hand of someone he must have found important.
The day her immortality was taken it was siphoned into a hollowed crystal hung on a necklace.
None of these items looked like it. Valeen knew she’d feel it if it were near.
Like a call to her soul that had been, in some ways, ripped in half.
Hel flicked his fingers, and a shimmering veil trickled down the walls and moved across the ceiling and floor. “Silencing spell.”
“You’ve been in this house before? You knew where to take us,” Valeen mused. Rogue was one of the Primevarr, her opposing side and the one Hel and Thane had been loyal to as young gods. She’d only met him at her execution.
“Rogue had the same tutors as us,” Thane said, pulling open drawers on the desk. Hel immediately went for the shelves of scrolls.
“Was Synick one of those tutors you shared?”
“Synick was very selective.” Hel’s fingers lightly passed over the scrolls, as if whatever he was looking for would reveal itself. “Rogue didn’t make the cut.”
“Your lessons may be the reason that Rogue was the only one to vote against our exile. Which is why I have to ask why we’re here if this is a retaliation mission.”
Thane and Hel glanced at one another then Thane answered, “Synick gave us something on him that might get him to tell us where our immortality is.”
“Something?”
“He has a secret child I doubt he wants anyone to know about.” Hel grinned and pulled a scroll free and unfolded it.
“Also, Rogue didn’t like me, and I didn’t like him.
He usually had his face in a book about the law and thought he was smarter than everyone.
It’s more likely he didn’t feel our punishment was justified than he felt any kindness toward us. ”
“He liked me,” Thane rifled through the drawer.
“Yes, Mr. Popular,” Hel drawled.
“A secret child he doesn’t want his wife to know about?”
“Something like that. You’ll see.”
“What do you mean, I’ll see? Do you have to be cryptic?”
“I mean, you’ll see. It’s a surprise.”
She and Thane exchanged a glance, and he just chuckled and shook his head. “Are you in on this too?” she asked.
“You really don’t like surprises, do you?” Thane took out a stack of papers and peeled through them.
“No.” Valeen gave up and her boots lightly tapped as she hurried across the warm wooden floors to the glass case of precious items. She tugged open the doors and found a drawer at the bottom.
Bottles of ink rolled around, feather quills sat on the left, and a black notebook was stuffed in the back.
If she knew anything about little black notebooks, it was that they usually held important information.
She lifted it out of the drawer and pried at the cover, but it wouldn’t open.
Magically sealed, damn. But she was even more certain she could find something useful for blackmail inside.
If the All Mother was merciful, it would contain the location of her immortality as well.
They wouldn’t even need to get him to talk.
“Hel, I need your help getting this open.”
He looked over his shoulder. “Are there runes on it?”
She turned it over in her hands to view the edges of the paper. There were three runes she didn’t recognize. “Yes.”
“These bastards love to hate me but still use my magic.”
She tossed it to him, and he caught it. The tip of his fingers brushed down the spine like he was petting a cat and then the book opened with the sound of a cork popping. “All you need to do is give it a little stroke, you know, like something else.”
She rolled her eyes and crossed the room, snatching it back. “Always inappropriate.”
“You act like you didn’t do that just last night.”
Valeen’s cheeks warmed, and he chuckled. “Can we focus?” she flicked through the pages. It looked to be full names and dates... encounters with females? Not at all what she needed. “And stop staring at me.”
“Now I can’t look at you?”