The Ghost's Crusade

XXI. Akkali

Wessinberg looked almost exactly like Baedorn, only grassier and with a perimeter wall that was really more a dirt berm for noxious weeds ignored by even the goats. The people were similarly morose and crestfallen, though from what she gathered from the chatter in the streets it wasn't because their Ovan was an incompetent moron but because nearly all of their standing army had been slaughtered outside Baedorn by homunculi. Practically everyone in the city was missing a husband, brother, son or betrothed, and it seemed as though there was a new funeral or cremation being held with every tick of the two-faced clocktower that overlooked the whole of the city from the market square.

Then again, perhaps the Ovan was a moron, sending that many of his troops south in a single group. If the dukes of Morvayne didn't descend in force with their soldiers and annex both city-states by the winter they were morons too.

Tiernan had insisted on checking in with his zealots the moment he sighted the city and had rode in ahead of them. For some foolish reason he was trusting that Akkali wouldn't just disappear into the countryside with Hallia, who was sitting in the saddle in front of her with squinted eyes and a stiff upper lip, trying not to not pay mind to the weeping people milling through the streets. She had no idea how to make the girl feel better other than to point out that she had done a very good job patching up Jansa's wounds. When she did she received a small melancholy smile from the girl but little else. Since the werewolf attack she had been practically mute, and Akkali was starting to find it a bit disturbing.

Frustrated and not desiring to be anywhere near the zealots lest they recognize her as the one who had been employing unsanctioned magic in the forest outside Baedorn she instead headed for the house Drystan had told her was run by Antenox. A plain-looking three story brick-and-mortar inn near the eastern edge of the city, there was nothing marking it from the street as being anything other than a private boarding house. When she walked into the stable and handed her reigns off to one of the boys lazing in the hay loft she spotted the two-headed wolf symbol of the order hanging from a plaque above the rear door. With Hallia gripping her unbandaged hand as though she was terrified of falling off the face of the world Akkali walked into the inn with Jansa on her heels.

The common area was pleasantly warm with a fire roaring in the large hearth and two pots of delicious-smelling stew simmering on iron hooks in front of it. Seated in a dark blue wingbacked chair shuffling through a stack of papers was a deceptively wizened man with a shock of frazzled ash-gray hair sprouting from his head that made him look quite like a mad tinker from a fairy tale. There was nothing frail about him, however; Akkali could sense the revenant within him, and conversely she knew it sensed her. They knew the two were there, they just weren't interested in feigning surprise.

"I am Akkali Noirfang and I come bearing missives from Sonnes." She leaned over the back of the chair and waved her wounded hand in front of his nose to catch his eye. "And there's three werewolves on the road here I torched."

At her revelation man stood bolt upright from his chair so suddenly that Hallia squeaked in fear and tried to pull Akkali away. He stared at the girl with heavy-lidded eyes, then glanced at Akkali herself before nodding. "There was an Inferi sent after them just a day ago. Did you come upon anyone else?"

"No. Just werewolves."

"That lazy son of a dockside whore!" growled the man, who clamped his hand over his mouth when he realized his mistake. "Ah, I'm sorry. I've forgotten my manners. Didn't mean to curse so in front of you, little miss."

Hallia stared him down with wide eyes. "You're like Ser Drystan."

"Drystan Nighttyr?" The man chuckled when the girl bobbed her head up and down emphatically. "Aye. My name is Garret Neir, Senior Inferi looking after this little inn of ours. Have a seat by the fire, the both of you. I'll get some bowls for the stew and you can take the chill off."