Tyrant's Ebb

Tyrant's Ebb, chapter 3 - Remember Home

Jess

Half a day since the new Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Robert's estimate of the number of people here in the mountains seemed humble to Jess. The giantess called queen led them through a small town hidden in these mountains. As the unfriendly gazes became too much for Jess, she took to observing the woman leading them.

Once she got over how tall she was, Jess noticed the woman's fluid movements. Even her long, shimmering blonde hair seemed to flow behind her with each step. Her age was impossible to guess. Although her looks were young, those ink filled eyes had a weary, faraway look to them.

And everything about her was elongated in some sense. Her fingers, her face, the ears, the nose, all parts of the woman's body matched that overall tall and thin look. With those jet-black eyes, the woman reminded Jess of haute couture models. Beautiful in a sense, yet extremely uncanny.

Meanwhile, the five of them had reached a set of grand wooden doors where two men standing guard looked at each other in alarm and tried to get in the giantess' path. "Queen! You know what they said, they do not need you if you have nothing useful to say."

The giantess marched straight towards the man and as soon as he was in her reach she slapped him across the face. As the man stumbled and fell, she marched up to the doors and pushed them open with ease. Despite her lithe appearance, she was strong.

Jess noticed the guard who had been slapped away was gently clutching his jaw and mumbling in a panicked voice, unable to open his mouth.

"Rejoice! I bring new souls that hold answers!" The giantess shouted into the grand hall beyond the doorway.

"Queen! What did we say?" An angry shout came from within.

"I bring answers, I believe that means I am expected." Her voice sounded cheerful to the point of nausea.

The sight in the hall did not improve Jess' mood. A crowd of people with even unhappier faces filled it from end to end. In the middle of all this was an older woman with a staff towering over her head. It had a strange carved shape on the top of it. It reminded Jess of an upside down tornado.

There were streaks of grey in the woman's hair and the short, curly cut gave her the impression of a kind granny. But her face showed hints that at one time it had been much happier. Now a stern and unforgiving expression struck fear into Jess.

"Behold! New souls to pass the dark..." The tall woman called queen began, but she was cut off by the woman standing in the middle of the room.

"Get them to slumber!" She waved dismissively.

That did not deter the giantess who now shrieked across the entire hall. "NEW SOULS WITH THE STRENGTH TO PASS THE DARK, TO SURVIVE THE MADNESS OF THE NORTH and..." The queen's voice calmed once everyone had turned their attention towards the doorway. "With the strength to walk the path of the elder of Dark alongside it. If only for a short time."

Jess did not like the silence that followed, nor did she find any relief in the way this so-called queen twirled on the spot and bowed before the four of them, gesturing them into the hall.

"They were in Ironcourt?" A man with a fierce face and red hair had stood up behind a table at the other end of the hall.

"Is there a way home?" Mai's voice was sudden and determined.

It caused Jess to flinch and close her eyes. She should have been to one to ask, not Mai. She would have found the right time to get the correct answer.