Midnight Intruder

     A week later the party was well into the Haflalan Confederation. The landscape had slowly shifted from scrub plains to forests with proper farmland with healthy crops mixed in. The storms changed as well from heavy with dangerously gusting winds to just rain without end. The oddest part was the fact that they hadn't seen any villages or towns, while they hadn't expected any in Oristan lands, surely there would be some in Haflalan. Even the many farms that they saw seemed to be uninhabited with the only signs that they were farms being the circular worked fields. There were no houses, only tall silos in the center of the worked fields and the silos had a single light on top that was too bright to be a candle or torch. It could have been a oil lamp, but it would have to be a pretty big lamp to make that much light.

They didn't see any residents of Haflalan until they were about a day out of Helgale. They were following a road along the coast of an inland sea when they finally saw a farmer leading a long chain of carts being pulled by beasts of burden also heading towards the capitol. Later that afternoon as the group was looking for a place to land because the vessel wasn't safe to fly at night which made sense to Bisha because just like there was a difference in how the winds blew between day and night there was a difference in how majic flowed too. Bisha blinked when he saw the farmer and the carts, he'd never seen an animal that looked like what he was seeing, they looked mechanical and not like living animals at all. They looked like they were made of metal, not flesh, but that was impossible. It had to be an unknown animal of some sort that was pulling the carts. Bisha continued to contemplate what kind of animal that he'd seen as they left the sight behind them and continued to look for a place to land for the night.

     Later on, once they had found a place to land and the group made preparations for the night, Bisha got the fire started and then helped Devshi with dinner. Nahla and Irene set up the guard rotation including everyone except Devshi and himself. The group had long ago learned that the two of them were no good at guard duty, both of them tended to react to every little sound which meant no one got any sleep when they were on duty. Preparing dinner however was something that the two of them excelled in and even Nahla said their food was good, although she did still add ghost blossom powder to everything she ate. No one minded as long as she didn't add it to their food as well.

     Everyone except Nahla was asleep when the quiet of the night was shattered by the unholy sound of what sounded like a pig squealing combined with a woman screaming along with the unmistakable sound of Ryah's loud growling punctuated with the sounds of a scuffle. It didn't take more than a moment for Nahla, who was on duty as the guard, to reach Ryah quickly followed by everyone else. in  the short time it took for everyone to reach Ryah the fight was already over and who or whatever she'd been fighting with was gone already. Bisha cast the light spell that he had finally mastered so everyone could see better. Nahla nodded at him gratefully while looking over Ryah to make sure that she hadn't gotten injured during her fight, fortunately Ryah was physically uninjured although her temper was vile because whatever it was had gotten away.

      "Did anyone see what Ryah was fighting?" Nahla asked wiping her hands together as she stood back up looking at each of them in turn, everyone else shook their heads negatively as Nahla looked at them.

       Irene took advantage of the light that Bisha had cast to look at the ground all around them to find any tracks from their invader and it didn't take long for her to find them. Irene called everyone over to her as soon as she found the tracks of whatever it was that Ryah had fought. One look at the tracks made it clear that it was a whatever, not whoever that made the tracks. The track had two large toes of the same size and what looked like a thumb instead of a heel. The tracks weren't as deep as Irene would have thought for their size. So either the creature had huge feet for their size or weren't very muscular for their size. Irene decided to ask Nahla which it was later when things weren't so hectic.

      "Has anyone else ever seen tracks like these?" Irene asked pointing at the tracks she had found.

     At Irene's question everyone except Nahla came over to look at what she had found. The orangeish colored blood spore that Irene found with the unusual tracks just added more confusion to the situation. Irene was beginning to think that this was more than just a strange animal getting too close to their camp, Irene decided to follow the tracks and blood trail for as far as she could. If it was just an animal, it was wounded and she needed to make sure that it would survive or put it out of its misery if the wound was too severe. Just as she was going to suggest just that, Nahla spoke.

      "Ryah says that the creature was stalking the camp when she scented it," Nahla stated while she made sure that Ryah really was uninjured. "According to Ryah it smelled like a snake or lizard and tasted terrible, not like anything she'd ever tasted before, and, does anyone have something that would get the taste out of poor Ryah's mouth?"

      Irene watched as Bisha pulled one of his favorite snacks out of one of the pouches he always carried with him before anyone else could move. She wasn't surprised that Bisha kept snacks as well as odd ingredients for majic in his numerous pouches, thankfully Ryah was able to get the bad taste out of her mouth. Irene mentioned wanting to follow the creature and her reasoning for doing so. Ryah immediately agreed to help along with Nahla, help Irene was happy to take. Ryah's nose was so much better than any tracking skill that either Nahla or herself would ever have.

     It didn't take long for Irene to know that it was no mere animal that they were following. The tracks quickly disappeared under a large tree. There was a small hollow at the roots of the tree, but it was far too small for even a rabbit to hide in, nonetheless that was where the tracks ended. No matter what tricks that the threesome used they couldn't find any sign of either tracks or blood spore anywhere. After almost a candle mark of further searching and nothing to be found eventually Irene, Nahla, and Ryah went back to the campsite to tell everyone there about their failure.

     The next morning Ten Rabbit joined Irene, Nahla, and Ryah in looking for where their unpleasant visitor from the night before had gone, but the morning light didn't help at all in finding the intruder, all of their efforts lead them right back to where it had last night. Daylight didn't help them figure out how the intruder disappeared either. While Ten Rabbit, Irene, Nahla and Ryah were trying to find the invader Bisha and Devshi were getting breakfast. Fulha was making sure no one left anything behind and the engineer was getting the Atlom's Axe ready to fly. Once breakfast was ready and all of the other morning tasks were finished they left as soon as they were done eating. Just one more day and they'd be at the capitol.

A Riot in the Capitol

    Two days later the Atlom's Axe was landed in a field at the outskirts of Helgale, the capitol of the Haflalan Trade Confederation. They had actually reached the farmlands right outside of Helgale the night before but they had decided to wait until morning before actually entering the city itself. The vessel was parked in one of the untilled fields that were outside of the city walls. It would have been rude to land in a tilled field even if the ship hovered in the air instead of actually touching the ground. The party unloaded the various mounts just like they did every other night. It was healthiest for the mounts and let everyone clean out the stalls that they used.

     Fulha had originally suggested waiting until morning and after some discussion the rest of them agreed. Fulha was right, it would be easier to get rooms at an inn as well as an interview with the leaders of the Haflalan Confederacy, and at the end of the day that was the most important part. So that was what they were doing this morning. Everyone had gotten up before dawn so that they would be ready to go as soon as the gates opened, the engineer was going to be staying with the ship as well as the pack animals so it was only the party and Fulha that were actually entering the city. While they were waiting for the gates to open Fulha suggested to the party that they leave their mounts behind, but Nahla had no intention of leaving Usha behind if she could help it. Usha had been very annoyed when she'd been left behind in Tlatlolitzli, the Michocan capitol, and Nahla really didn't want to go through that again if she could help it.

      Nahla watched as the heavy gates slowly open inward, even she knew that it was easier to bar gates the went inwards rather than outwards. At first Nahla had decided to bring her mount because she didn't want to deal with a grumpy temee but once Fulha explained that if Usha came with she would have to stay in the stable at the inn, whereas if Usha stayed here she would be free to wander around as long as she stayed out of any tilled fields. Staying out of tilled fields was so obvious that Usha and Nahla were almost insulted, but decided to take it as an innocent comment, Ryah however stayed with Nahla. As soon as the gates were open all the way Fulha stepped forward and informed the guards that they were emissaries of the Mahapratanidhi of Kishnagar and wished to speak to the Besturaad as soon as possible. One of the group of guards took off to inform the Besturaad while another guard ran off to get something called a "taxi" that would carry them to the inn they were supposed to stay in.

The Hafla guards were like all Hafla, almost diminutive in stature. They wore blue and gold uniforms in a style that was very similar to how Irene normally dressed although much more angular in style, on their hips they carried a short but wide sword with a straight blade and on the other side three ball like things that were held on with a metal clip. They each had a chest plate over their uniform and greaves protecting their shins. The pieces of armor were made from a bronze colored metal and made in simple angular style with lots of flat planes. While they were very short, shorter than Devshi or Irene, they were very obviously very physically fit and they each wore a handlebar mustache and pointed goatee that was very neat and very well trimmed. They definitely gave the impression that they were not to be trifled with. 

     The first of many surprises the party saw here in Helgale was when what they learned was a taxi arrived at the now open gate. It was a strange contraption that vaguely resembled a rickshaw, something that Nahla had learned about back in the capitol of Kishnagar, the biggest difference that Nahla noticed was that instead of a person pulling it there was a strange metallic bipedal person that the guard said was called an automaton. The automaton seriously unnerved Nahla because there were no thoughts of any kind from it. That wasn't the last surprise they saw on their way to their inn, but it was one of the more extraordinary. While they were heading towards the inn that the guard was leading them to Fulha explained to everyone that the Besturaad was the leading body of the Haflalan Trade Confederation, an explanation that Nahla at least was grateful for. She hadn't known what the Besturaad was and was fairly certain that the rest of them hadn't known either. 

     The rest of their journey to the inn was filled with surprises as the guard told them all about the many sights of the city. The guard made a point of telling the party that they would want to tour the city along with telling them that the inn would be able to arrange the tours easily as well. Nahla wasn't the only member of the party to be amazed by everything that they were seeing. In fact, from the look on his face Bisha was completely amazed by the rickshaw alone, Nahla was pretty sure that if he saw any more surprises he was going to fall over in a dead faint. The sights of the city were clearly distracting Devshi from her troubles for the first time since they had found the letter that indicted her mentor and friend. This was an effect that made Nahla happy, Devshi had been very upset and had started retreating further and further into herself, something that Nahla knew was no good for Devshi in the long run. Ten Rabbit had a look of total amazement on his face although he was obviously trying to look like nothing he saw was anything other than normal. Irene didn't show as much of a reaction, but Nahla knew her now and could easily tell that Irene was far more surprised by everything they saw so far today. Only Fulha seemed to not be surprised by anything.

     Everything Nahla saw was amazing and disturbing at the same time. the buildings were much taller than any she'd seen before. Every other building Nahla had seen so far were for the most part one or sometimes two stories tall. The buildings here looked to be three to five floors or more with very high ceilings if the window placement was right. Just the doors to some of these buildings looked to be ten feet tall, which was very strange to her. The Hafla who were four foot tall at best were gathered in throngs that not even the residents of Alkhadharam had matched. Every building was built with sharp angles and gave Nahla the impression that they were looming over her intimidatingly, a sensation that Nahla didn't appreciate. It made her miss the color and life of Alkhadharam.

     The number of Hafla everywhere was the main thing that disturbed Nahla, everywhere she looked there were hundreds if not thousands of them. How did so many live so close together. The crowds of Hafla stayed to walkways built on the edges of the streets. This made sense considering how much traffic of these rickshaw "taxis" there were, there were what looked like hundreds of Hafla riding two wheeled contraptions that they powered with their feet as well.  A long metal cart thing filled with people passed them on the other side of the street. At least it kind of looked like a cart, but it didn't have wheels, it hovered over the street and made a faint humming noise. Nahla wondered if the metal cart thing floated the same way that Atlom's Axe did. 

Even with the sheer masses of Hafla out walking and riding everything moved smoothly in a complicated dance. There was no chaotic disorder, it was clear that everything had it place and that everyone and everything moved around each other smoothly, keeping a steady even pace. After Alkhadraham and even Tlatlolitzli seeing such order among the crowds was almost unnerving, it almost didn't seem natural. 

      The very air itself felt charged the same way it did just before a lightning storm and faintly smelled of lightning, the air made Nahla think of the thunder storms on the mountains of her home in the Bishdan Peaks. It was surprising to Nahla how clean the streets were considering how much traffic and people there were out today. Nahla saw a piece of paper laying out in the street near a little door at the edge of the walkway. When the door opened up Nahla watched as a little metal creature that kind of looked like a crab scurried up, grabbed the paper, and disappeared back into its little door that closed behind it. That explained why the streets were so clean. Helgale was very strange, Nahla decided as she sat back watching the view in front of her.

After a few blocks the "taxi" stopped and they got out at an odd shelter on the street. Several Hafla were waiting there and the guard told them that they were waiting for the next Flokflytter, whatever that was. It didn't take long for a long metallic cart to pull up in front of them, this had to be the Flokflytter. It wasn't pulled by anything and it didn't have any wheels, but hovered above the ground. Everyone got on and took a seat, Nahla had a little difficulty because she was so tall but it wasn't that bad, everything in this strange city seemed to be built for giants. The Flokflytter took off so smoothly that Nahla couldn't feel it moving.

After it stopped a few times so some people could get off the guard pulled a string that hung above the window and the Flokflytter stopped at what looked like a very fancy market building. The guard had everyone get off and go into the building, it had a large courtyard inside ringed by several small shops. The guard led them up a flight of stairs to a spot where more Hafla were waiting next to a set of large glass doors set into the outside wall, Nahla could see outside into the street. After a short wait a larger version of the Flokflytter pulled up to the door. It seemed to hang from a wide rail, but it wasn't actually attached to it. This had to be some strange majic she hadn't heard of. 

When the door opened everyone filed into the craft that the guard explained was a string of words she did not understand, so the guard told her to call it a monorail. Everyone seemed to be holding straps that hung from special rails to keep them from falling over when it took off. The monorail followed its rail across the city well above most of the buildings, when it got to the north side of what Nahla was learning was a very large city indeed it pulled up to another building that closely resembled the one they left. Everyone got off and the guard led them to the street where they got onto another "taxi" that took them to the inn.

When they got to the inn, it didn't look like any inn they had seen before. A Hafla in a crisp uniform met them on the sidewalk with a small cart that he put their bags onto and followed them into the lobby. The lobby had a long counter with another Hafla standing behind it wearing a suit, he addressed the group in an accented Kishnagari that was as crisp as his fancy suit.

"Welcome to the Haarber Kleg Hotel, how many will be staying with us today? The guard walked up to the suited Hafla and they exchanged words for a moment before the guard turned around and told them that they would be staying here under diplomatic credentials and that the Besturaad would be taking care of the bill. He handed them little metal cards that had what looked like numbers printed on them and told them if they had any questions they should talk to the gentleman in the suit. With that the guard walked out into the street and got into a "taxi" and left. Nahla just stood there holding her card and looked at the rest of the group who were plainly as confused as her.

Fulha took charge of the moment and politely informed the Hafla in a suit that they were new to the city and could her please tell them what they were supposed to do. The suited Hafla smiled in a very condescending way and explained to them that the cards allowed them into their rooms and if they followed the Bidende¹ he would lead them to their rooms. Nahla and the group followed the uniformed Hafla pushing the cart with their bags as he led them down a hallway lined with doors, after a few doors he stopped and asked them for their cards. As he looked at each card he indicated a door with a corresponding number and handed them back their cards. He told them to hold them up to the metal plate by the door and they would be able to enter. 

Nahla held her card up to the plate next to her indicated door and the door popped open slightly. She entered her room to find a room that resembled any other Haarber Inn, but everything was much higher quality. The bed itself looked like it had been made by master craftsmen and the wash basin looked like it had cost a lot of money. Above the wash basin was a mirror that was made of glass, Nahla had to take a close look at it. She had never seen a glass mirror before, she had only seen mirrors made of polished silver or some other metal. It was so clear she could make out the smallest detail of her face. She turned around to share this with Ryah only to find her stretched out as long as she could on the bed. 

"You have to try this, it's so soft" said Ryah. Nahla stepped over and sat on the edge of the bed, it was very soft indeed. She then got up and looked out the window, she could see the bustle of the street around her. That was when she realized she couldn't hear the noise outside through the window. She turned the handle and pushed open the window and the sounds of the street almost overwhelmed her after the quiet of the room. She closed the window and sat on the edge of the bed again. 'Now what?' she asked herself. She decided to find Fulha and find out what the plan was. She asked Ryah if she wanted to come with. Ryah decided to stay and enjoy the bed, Nahla could brave the noisy city on her own. Nahla gave a chuckle at Ryah trying to take up as much of the bed as possible and told her to get up and come with. Ryah gave a mental sigh and went with Nahla to find Fulha.

     Hours later after getting directions from the Hafla at the hotel Nahla watched as Fulha explained their mission to the leaders of the Haflalan Confederation, so far nothing that Fulha or Bisha had said seemed to have any effect. The Besturaad only seemed to be concerned with their own problems. While under normal circumstances Nahla would agree with their decision, but these weren't normal times. Mrtis was rising and causing problems all over the place. The Besturaad just kept repeating that today wasn't a good day to talk because they had to get to a memorial service that was being held for two members of the Besturaad that had been assassinated. It was made clear however that even if there hadn't been the memorial to go to the Besturaad wouldn't help them. It wasn't their problem and they had their own problems to deal with.  That was how Fulha and the party ended up following the Besturaad to the public memorial ceremony, hoping to change their minds.

The ceremony was held in a park with a huge plaza, compared to all of the buildings it was an idyllic island of nature. There were trees fairly openly spaced that provided some of the crowd with shade, here and there were canopy structures that served the same purpose. The plaza was filled with what looked like thousands of Hafla, all facing a raised stage built around a huge statue of two Hafla reaching for the sky. Nahla assumed that the Hafla being depicted were the two that had been assassinated. 

      Nahla looked around at the audience from where the party was standing at the edge of the crowd, near the platform that the Besturaad was going to be speaking from. Nahla noticed that more of the metal people were placed around the edge of the plaza as well as surrounding the Besturaad itself. At first Nahla had thought that they were just unusual statues but then she saw one of them shift its position a bit when one of Besturaad changed where she was standing, It seemed to be keeping itself between the Besturaad and as many people as possible. According to one of the residents of Helgale they were currently in the Grunlaager plaza where just about every major ceremony for the city was held. The Hafla around the party reacted differently from the majority of the Hafla people that made up the rest of the audience. Those nearby seemed off to Nahla, more like they were angry at the Besturaad than at whoever it was that had killed one or more members of the leading council. The very training that Nahla had received for knowing what someone was feeling worked on crowds almost as well as it did on individuals, add to that education the grumbling that Nahla could clearly hear added up to a very upset audience that was waiting for the Besturaad to speak.

      No sooner had the leader of the Besturaad started to speak when the Hafla around the party started to grumble and move slowly towards the platform that the Besturaad was standing on. While they were moving they were pulling weapons from hiding places in their clothes.  For a split second Nahla was confused about why these Hafla were pulling weapons, as soon as one of the disgruntled members of the audience pulled back his arm to throw something at the Besturaad she acted without thought. Before anyone could react on either side Nahla swatted the object with her spear, changing its trajectory from one that would land it on the platform to causing it to land in the street and roll off into an alley off to one side. 

     The object had no sooner arrived in the alley when there was a bright flash of blue light that Nahla saw out of the corner of her eye. As soon as had the first round object exploded then there were more flying through the air, far too many for anyone to deflect. At first Nahla didn't see any damage to anyone but then one of the metal statues started twitching and fell over, apparently dead. Nahla quickly figured out that the round objects were intended to damage the metal statues that the Hafla used as guards. It didn't take long for the rest of the party to catch on to the attack on the Besturaad that Nahla's action had foiled with her initial action.

    The part of the audience that wasn't attacking screamed and tried to run causing confusion to spread all across the park. The Besturaad for its part also tried to run for it, but were blocked by the fleeing audience. Without conversation the party acted as one and placed themselves between the attackers and the Besturaad before they could respond to Nahla fouling their initial attack, the attackers who had thought to have an easy victory were suddenly faced with a concerted opposition.

      Irene had taken the lead with Ten Rabbit and Fulha flanking the Hafla that were attacking the Besturaad. Nahla stood a bit behind Irene so she could fully use her spear on the enemy with Ryah at her side. Bisha and Devshi stood closest to the Besturaad mainly as a last line of defense as well as them using distance attacks. For a moment Nahla wondered if the attackers would turn and run, but when they all pulled weapons she knew that they were in for a fight. The wicked smiles on the faces of the attackers told Nahla that they had come to the same conclusion.

     As the battle began Irene was poetry in motion as she kept the attackers away from her while removing each of them one at a time, every movement smooth and flowing like an intricate dance. Nahla was moving forward to attack as well when one of the aggressors threw another of the objects that she had batted away at the start of the fight. This time because of the angle Nahla ended up catching it instead of hitting it with her spear like she had the previous time. Nahla stared at the round object in her hand for a moment wondering what it was. It made a faint click noise and suddenly opened up like a flower and there was a bright blue flash, for a split second Nahla was concerned that she had been injured, but no there was nothing wrong, no injury to her hand or any other part of her body. Suddenly she felt energized, like she could take on the entire crowd at once.

      That was when both Nahla and Bisha both simultaneously noticed that there was a group of Hafla about to attack Irene from behind. Fulha and Ten Rabbit were fully engaged in fighting with their own groups of attackers. Nahla screamed a warning to Irene flinging her hand out with one finger pointing towards the attackers at the same time that Bisha opened his hand to cast a spell. The strangest thing happened when Nahla had gestured, a bolt of lightning shot out of her finger hitting the closest of the attackers sneaking up behind Irene, at the same time the spell that Bisha was casting went off and there was a small glowing ball that shot off of his hand and hit the attacker directly behind the one that Nahla had hit. The glowing ball exploded at the very same time as the the lightning had hit causing all of the attackers around the two struck to shake their heads stunned. The distraction was all that Irene, needed to stop the remaining attackers. It didn't take long for the party to capture and detain the remaining attackers.

       As soon as the Grunlaager plaza was empty of everyone but the Besturaad, their disabled guards, and the party the head of the Besturaad ran down towards Nahla and her friends. Fulha stepped forward as the Hafla leader started to babble at them about their gratitude for the rescue. It didn't take long for Fulha to take control of the situation, so Nahla turned back to Irene and the rest of the party. She was about to compliment Irene on her fighting when Bisha ran up and started his own babbling about the lightning spell that Nahla had apparently cast.

     That was when Nahla remembered the lightning that had flown out of her finger when she was warning Irene about the attackers behind her. Nahla could only stare at Bisha as she realized what had just happened. Nahla was completely stunned by the knowledge that she had cast a spell. She was a shaman not a majic user, there were no Oristani majic users. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with majic users other than them being a bit odd in the head, but many people were odd in their own way so that wasn't a problem. There just had never been any Oristani majic users, this was going to take some thinking about Nahla decided.  

¹Bidende - Hafla word for bellboy or valet.

A Tour of the City

     The next day and the results of the party's rescue of the Besturaad were clear, the party were told that anything they wanted they'd get. The leader of the Besturaad told Fulha that the assassins were members of a break-off faction that had already managed to kill two of the Besturaad, for the first time they had managed to catch any of the assassins alive. In fact they had managed to catch most of them alive although many of them were wounded to various degrees. The Besturaad considered the party heroes and intended to treat them as such, each of them had been given a small very thin rectangular piece of metal. They had been told that it was to pay for anything they wanted while they were in Helgale, they deserved it because they had saved the Besturaad and facilitated the capture of the prisoners of the break-off faction. The head of the Besturaad had referred to them as "Onderstadten", whatever that meant.

The party quickly learned that they were glad to have the little metal card, everything in Helgale cost something no matter how minor. There were special little fountains all over the city that were for people to drink out of, even they cost a little bit of money. All they had to do was touch the card onto a small metal plate attached to whatever they wanted to use and it would register that they had paid. When they went into a shop or other business the proprietor would take their card touch it to a plate and hand it back to them. Bisha had wondered about theft of the card and the shopkeeper he was talking to laughed. They informed him that no one in Helgale would do such a thing and that if they did the constable would make sure they regretted it.

      Bisha looked around his room at the inn they were staying in while eating the breakfast that had had been brought to him by one of the metal people before he could go down to the common room to eat. At first they had all been staying in meager rooms at the inn, but the party had been moved up a floor to much better rooms.  All of their items had followed them, being carried by more of the bidende. Now they all had rooms that would have made the Ashfan Pashanate himself pleased with the luxury, it was all a bit too much as far as Bisha was concerned but no one had asked his opinion. He had more important things to worry about right now, like what the Children of Mrtis were up to now.

      Another thing that Bisha was worried about was Devshi, ever since the the battle at the Grunlaager plaza she had seemed even more distant and depressed, not her usual bubbly self. Bisha knew that she'd been upset ever since they had found her mentors name signed on a note in one of their attackers back in Kishnagar. Before the battle she was down, but every new place would animate her if only for a bit, but now nothing seemed to make her happy. Not even Ryah could bring a smile to her face. All she wanted to do was hug her tiger that somehow had managed to arrive at the inn, alone. For a moment Bisha was distracted by remembering the tigers arrival last night, Somnadi had just appeared at the door of Devshi's room. No one had admitted to letting the tiger in, but someone must of because how else could she have gotten there.

      Bisha could hardly wait for the rest of the party to get to his room so they could all go to the Helgale city library, if there was one thing that Bisha enjoyed it was libraries. The knock at the door startled Bisha from his thoughts about libraries and sent him off to see who it was at the door. The person at the door wasn't one of his friends, it was one of the inn's employee's. The inn staff member was a young Hafla and had a bunch of paper in his hands.

      "Sir, Here are pamphlets about various places you and your friends will want to see while you're here in Helgale," the employee said in heavily accented Kishnagari, walking into Bisha's room. The Hafla walked in and set them on the table and promptly left.

      "Thank you?" Bisha answered, very confused as the employee nodded and closed the behind himself.

      For a long moment Bisha could only stare at the closed door that the young employee had left through almost as soon as he had entered. The papers the the employee had called "pamphlets" hung loose in Bisha's hands. Shaking his head Bisha wondered to himself about what a pamphlet was and why they'd been given to him. He decided to look through them and was surprised, apparently a pamphlet was a piece of paper that told people about different places in the city. Why anyone would need these pamphlet things was beyond Bisha, but he had long ago learned to not worry about why people did things.

      Later that day low and behold the pamphlets were actually useful to the party. The pamphlets had informed Bisha and the party to the best way to get to any place they needed to go, especially the libraries here in Helgale. At first everyone planned to go to the Helgale city library but then decided that only Bisha would go and the rest of them would actually look around the city while Bisha searched for information on Mrtis in the city and university library. Less than an hour later the whole party was outside the inn waiting for what the Hafla at the front desk of the inn they were staying in called the autobefodring, the automatic rickshaw that they had taken to the inn the day before.

       Standing just inside of the Helgale public library was a shock to Bisha. The building was huge, easily as large as the palace that the Mahapratanidhi lived in. Everywhere that Bisha looked he saw floor to ceiling books and scrolls. It was a maze of bookshelves that was somehow brightly lit with a diffuse light that was the perfect level for reading. A sight that pleased Bisha more than anything else he had seen before except maybe when he'd met the Oristani High Chieftain. Bisha had always loved books and the sight before him was beyond any library he ever seen before. It didn't take long for Bisha to discover where in the huge building the books he wanted were to be found.  He gathered everything he wanted at a conveniently placed table and sat down blissfully to study.

       Bisha took out the notes he'd taken on his previous visits to other libraries and started adding to them from the books and scrolls he was studying here in Helgale. He wasn't fully certain, but Bisha was sure there was a pattern to the attacks as well as possibly a way to defend themselves from Mrtis and her Children. The books and scrolls that he'd studied so far, both here and previously, indicated that there was a weapon that had defeated Mrtis the last time she had reared her evil head. Bisha wasn't sure yet, but the hints were there if you looked close enough, Bisha just hoped that he wasn't reading too much into what he'd found so far. The next day Bisha went to the library at the Helgale University, continuing his studies into Mrtis and what to do about her. The university library wasn't anywhere as large as the city library but like every library so far contained information that wasn't in any of the other libraries. While the various libraries had contained many of the same books, so far each one had boasted books not found in any of the others, which allowed Bisha to continue to make progress on finding out how to stop Mrtis.

      During Bisha's visits to the libraries of Helgale Khomal, his small companion, was with him. Much to Bisha's joy Khomal would often land on books or scrolls that would turn out to be useful for Bisha. Khomal would glide over to a book or scroll and tap on it while sitting on the shelf in front of it. The way that Khomal was acting made Bisha smile with joy, something that he hadn't had all that much reason to do lately. Khomal brought Bisha joy everyday, but since coming here to Haflalan it had been harder to find things to smile about. The more he learned from his studies the grimmer he felt, but Khomal still brought joy to him and let him laugh freely.

      The day after his trips to the two libraries Bisha joined the rest of the party on its visits to the remaining sights that Helgale offered, much to his surprise Bisha discovered that the various attractions had a lot to teach him even if it didn't apply to his search about Mrtis. The one thing that Bisha loved was learning for its own sake and here was a place that promoted that. Bisha was excited to be touring the city and seeing all of the places that the pamphlets advertised. The only thing that would make him happier would be seeing the various sites with his friends back home and maybe the High Chieftain of the Oristani.

Bisha had found the Grugebel Public Art Studio very interesting. Apparently all art was sponsored by the Besturaad and anyone could become an artist if they wanted too. It seemed that painting and sculpture were very popular among the Hafla and the Public Art Studio was a place someone could come and use their equipment in a studio they supplied. The entryway featured some of the best work of the artists that used this place and it was impressive work by any measure. The statues were so well done that Bisha half expected them to get up and walk around. 

     The Besturaad had informed the party through Fulha that they had decided to support the efforts of the party and their mission with financial backing. According to the aide that the Besturaad had sent to travel with them they wouldn't be paying for anything from now on, that was why he was coming along. Bisha wondered if they were going to pick up a new person at every place they visited.

¹Elektrik - A form of produced energy perfected by Hafla engineers used to power their automata.

²Tasprit - A receiver of elektrik attached to an automata used to power it.

Headed to Grundhorn

    Two weeks later the party was ready to leave Haflalan for Heldal, the capitol of the Grundhorn Empire and Irene's home town. Bisha had gotten everything he could from every library in Helgale as well as joining the rest of the party in touring the city. The inn they were staying in had sent someone they called a tour guide to take the party to the various tourist locations in Helgale. The party had seen many of the sights that Helgale offered but a couple of them really stood out in Irene's mind. The Kortby Automata Museum had impressed Irene a lot, She had gotten to see all of the different automata that the Haflalan had used over the last five hundred years. As far as Irene could tell there hadn't really been that much in the way of change to the various automata but it wasn't her place to say any thing about it. The automata themselves were amazing, all of the different tasks that they had been designed to do had blown her mind.

     The second place that Irene would never forget was the Klingen Kontraptions Amusement Park. All of the different rides had amazed Irene. Irene had never seen an amusement park before, she hadn't even known what one was until the party had arrived there. Some of the rides had completely baffled Irene, such as why did people want to bang into each other while riding in little pod like vehicles resting on a metal circle enclosed in a large oblong with low walls. It had struck Irene as a pointless endeavor.  Irene had loved one of the rides more than any other ride. They sat inside something that the guide had called "cars" and then the cars had gone along a fixed path the the guide called a "track". The "ride" was all ups, downs and loops and was so exciting that she wanted to do it over and over until everyone else was tired of it.

    The third place that will forever live in Irene's mind was the Fluugelduugel Brewery and Museum. It was the first time that Irene had seen an actual brewery. While drinking beer was a national past time for the Zwergin no matter where they were in the world, there were no breweries in the Grundhorn Empire. Everyone in Grundhorn brewed their own beer and then they all just traded the bottles back and forth between each other. That way everyone had whatever kind of beer they wanted but because literally everyone brewed their own beer there was no call for a brewery. The closest the Zwergin had to a brewery was the various inns that brewed more beer and ale in a month than most Zwergin did at home in a year. So seeing a brewery had been a new sight for Irene, one that she intended to share with her fellow countrymen.

     Before they had left Michocan Irene had been worried when she had first found out that they would be traveling on a boat. She had gotten so seasick the first time she'd sailed but at least the crew of her first ship had given her an herb to chew that had cured her seasickness. Fortunately Irene hadn't needed to use the herb on the Atlom's Axe at all. Nahla and Usha hadn't gotten seasick either, so Irene still had her full supply that she had gotten as a just in case when they'd been in Alkhadharam. Irene had asked and had found out that the herb was also available in Michocan so she had added the herb to the supplies they carried on the vessel.

     Irene looked around herself at the main deck of the Atlom's Axe. The heavily carved wood was stained a dark brown with trim painted a beautiful golden color. Sails that were used to steer the vessel flowed behind the Atlom's Axe as soon as it was high enough above the ground for them to be deployed. Atlom's Axe was larger than it had initially looked when she had first viewed it from the ground. With a slender appearance that gave the impression that the vessel was slicing through the skies like a fish through water. Even the hastily built animal stalls on the deck looked like they had always been part of the design.

      Irene was worried about Devshi, ever since the fight at the Grunlaager plaza where they had protected the Besturaad from insurgents among their own people. Irene had spoken to everyone in the party and they were all worried about Devshi, Irene was thinking about how to help Devshi as she looked over the railing, watching as the ground flowed beneath them like the ocean. If she'd been on a boat or ship Irene would have been seasick, the Atlom's Axe instead flew through the air so smoothly they might as well have been standing still. Irene was glad that she didn't need to worry about being seasick as well as worrying how Devshi was doing.

      When the group had first started to travel together Devshi had been irrepressibly cheerful and bubbly about everything, nothing had slowed down her chatter or her obvious happiness. Irene had thought that only her formidable patience had kept Nahla from beating Devshi for her chatter, because Devshi had followed Nahla around like a puppy. Nahla had not yelled at Devshi at all, in fact Nahla had been nothing but patient and kind to her. Devshi had been quieter than normal ever since they had fought some attackers back before they had spoken to the Great Chieftain of the Oristani. Now her eyes no longer smiled and she had pretty much stopped talking altogether, something that concerned everyone. Irene had decided that she really needed to talk to Nahla, if anyone could get to the bottom of what was wrong with Devshi it was Nahla, or at least she hoped so.

        While they'd been in the Michocan capitol Devshi had seemed to bounce back a bit but ever since that blasted battle in the Haflalan capitol Devshi had basically shut down. She only had a semblance of life when she was sitting petting the tiger that had attached itself to the party. There was something about that tiger that Irene couldn't quite put her finger on. The tiger, Somnadi, acted like it had spent its whole life around people. The thing had shown up with a saddle for heavens sake, a saddle who put a saddle on a tiger. The strangest part was the way it was just accepted, even by their mounts, like it hadn't just wandered out of the forest. For reasons she couldn't comprehend the tiger just seemed like a part of the group, like it had always traveled with them. Somnadi happily followed Devshi and actually got annoyed when Devshi had tried to ride a horse instead. At least Irene assumed the tiger was happy, how did one tell if a tiger is happy or not, it hadn't tried to eat anyone so as far as Irene could tell Somnadi was happy.

      Irene was looking forward to being at home. She had learned so much on her travels and the mission she was on was very important, Irene just hoped that her father agreed with her about that. Well, if he didn't then Irene was going to ignore him and continue anyway. Irene had learned that there were things that were more important than making her family happy and stopping Mrtis was at the top of the list. Irene wasn't to worried about her father disagreeing with her though, not with her mother being in charge of the safety of the Twin Emperors, not that any of the Zwergin people would stand by and let Mrtis regain her foothold on Ardu. At least Irene hoped not, the last time the Zwergin had come alarming close to being extinct.

      Atlom's Axe flew over the low hills and farmland that made up the majority of Haflalan. They were heading towards the Drachen forest that separated the fields of Haflalan from the Zwergin lands, once they hit the forests Irene would be back in her home land. From there the vessel would fly over the forest and on to the coast where Heldal, the Zwergin capitol, was. The journey would take at least a week with good weather, but since they were well into fall and getting close to winter no one was expecting good weather so it was probably going to take closer to two weeks if not longer before Irene actually saw her home.

      At least we don't have to ride the whole way, Irene thought to herself. Riding would take even longer and be much more uncomfortable most of the way. If it was raining the group could all go to their rooms inside the ship. No one was going to risk flying in a storm again, not after almost crashing that last time. It was a miracle that no one had died, actually no one had even gotten a serious injury not even the animals. Irene was very glad for that she knew that it could easily have ended differently, with one or more of the party or their animals being seriously injured or killed. Gods be thanked that hadn't happened, they had been incredibly lucky on this whole journey and Irene had no intention of thinking that could continue. That was one of the many reasons they needed to find out what was bothering Devshi. Truthfully the main reason was that Devshi, for all of her chatter, was a genuinely nice person and everyone liked her, but even if they'd hated her they couldn't allow Devshi to continue to sink into whatever it was that was bothering her. Something had to change and the sooner the better.

     Irene decided to talk to Nahla and see if they could figure something out, she knew that Nahla tended to stay by Usha even when it was raining. At night everyone disembarked onto the land so the animals could graze and stretch their legs. Irene was fairly certain that if Usha had stayed on board the Atlom's Axe at night Nahla would have as well. Irene wandered over to where Nahla was standing grooming Usha for the thousandth time today and started to talk to her. They very quickly decided that it was time to find out what exactly was bothering Devshi once and for all, neither of them noticed the tiger get a concerned look on its face and wander below decks, not reappearing until they landed for the night.