The Whispers Of Queens

Gates of Wrendle

The rain was falling heavy, mingling with the gutter smell, horse shit, and strong odor of forgotten half-lings. Li hated coming to the human realm for this very reason. Bring them salvation and they drive themselves into disgrace. To believe that long ago we had even once lived alongside humans or even worked with them was a mystery. With creatures who were so hated by the gods, they weren't granted any gifts, magic, or immortal lives. The only thing they had left as the forgotten children was their hatred of what they could not have. Causing a rift between the other children of the gods and the forgotten race, forsaking their known gods for their gods. Hoping to fill the rift of absence with mortality imagination. Li could remember his old maid talking about the beauty of all the realms living together in harmony and peace. Even though she had been a small child before the wars broke out between them all.

After the demons had left and with no reason to come together for a common cause all the races had begun to try to claim territories. The beast-men with their transformation magic wishing to be rid of any further loss of their ways and cultures hid away to harsher terrains to live further amongst themselves. No longer being man and beast but now a mixture of the two to better survive the harsh terrains they had integrated into. In the Fae Realm, we occasionally saw a half-breed beast-man who was a traveling mercenary. Though the war had long been over, the heat of racism between certain races was still very evident. He was watching it now as the poor half-lizard man was being harassed by the crowd of human guards at the gates of Wrendle.

Li got off the wall of the building where he was watching from a bar, slinking in the shadows. Wrendle was known as one of the few human cities that was considered "open-minded" since it bordered the walls of the Goddess Freiga's Dark forest. This didn't mean humans greeted the other races with open arms. Li would argue it made them more dangerous, they were angry to be so close to other races and weren't afraid to voice it within the safety of their numbers and walls.

Since it was far from the king's graces they hardly received help or money to keep the city running in harsh winter. Farms on this side of the Forest struggled to take root and animals were often hunted by the mystic beasts from Friega's Forrest. Making these people often starved, angry, and poor. However, this was a hotspot for illegal trafficking of the other races. Rich lords and ladies loved to keep them as expensive "pets" and use them in violent games, slavery, and sex work. That's what brought Li here, he was on a mission from the Fae Queen herself to locate a target that was recently kidnapped.

With Fae having a difficult time with infertility, stealing a Fae child was the greatest crime one could commit against the Fae realm. Soria had heard of a half-ling child between a human man and Fae woman and immediately took them into her protection. Li hissed under his breath "She's 18, hardly a child to humans." But continued on his way toward the commotion that had now escalated to swords being drawn against the merchant.

"All my paperwork is legal, you have no reason to hold me back like this." He surprisingly looked more human than lizard up close, the only real indication of his lineage was his long orange-tinted tail and eyes the same hue. Slit like any desert lizard and he blinked with two lids.

"See we can take these tokens from you and throw you in jail for refusing to pay the toll of the city." The lead guard sneered back, Li knew before he even heard a retort that they had tried to unjustly overcharge entrance.

"I will not pay an additional 5 bronze pieces just to enter when the man before me paid one." The beast-man began reaching into his long coat pocket.

"He wasn't trying to bring livestock in like you." One guard laughed at him. "You damn beast-men are exactly that, BEASTS. So you'll pay the additional fees of bringing livestock into the city." The lead guard began to make his way towards the back of the merchant's caravan to start confiscating items.