Ruinous Return

"Oh! You\'re here!" the raven stated as he ruffled his feathers and hopped along the wooden beam he was latched onto. He looked at Lyn and dipped his beak in an approximation of a bow, "Call me Whisperwing. So, you\'re the lady I\'m bound to? Great! You look fantastic by the way." His voice was upbeat and almost infectiously enthusiastic.

Perfect, exactly what I wanted his personality to be like. Lyn chuckled and walked over to Whisperwing, pointing to her horn atop her head, "Come on, your new perch. Just don\'t shit on me."

Whisperwing let out a cackling laugh and flapped over to perch atop her head, "Oh, this is nice! Warms my talons. Mmm. So comfy! Much better perching than that stupid wood beam."

Finala stuttered, "I-I-I apologize, My Lady-"

"Why?"

"He…was not supposed to be this opinionated."

Lyn reached up and scratched Whisperwing\'s head gently with a talon, "It\'s alright. The spell I gave you worked perfectly." She turned to the nearby balcony and walked out to the ledge. Glancing back at Finala she smiled, "Keep up the good work." She jumped off and the cloak activated, slowing her descent as she landed lightly on the grass.

"Wow, you can fly too?! No, wait, you weren\'t flapping. Just falling slow. Cool!"

"Yup. So, Whisperwing, tell me about yourself."

"Well, for starters, I love the color black. My favorite food is cherries even though I\'ve only gotten my beak on those once, and…" it continued to trail on and on listing his favorite things.

Lyn kept silent, nodding and listening intently. She knew how lonely it could be at the top, and having a cute animal companion would help alleviate that loneliness. She began heading toward the lake, hoping the Sloren or Ari had arrived.

Thane Mol rode alongside his people. The grasslands in between the Slor Mountains and the Valley of the Volcano\'s range were pleasant to travel through, and the sweltering heat was the only source of discomfort. Carts laden with supplies were pulled behind the ram riders, and several more rode along the exterior of the caravan, patrolling and escorting the civilians and their property. They had to change their path and go along the smooth walls that had appeared along the river seemingly overnight, as much of the pasture they had planned to travel through was separated by – for Sloren – head high stone walls.

It had taken only a few days to convince the Thanes of the Roaring and Crashing Holds. The promise of revenge against Cecily Valagonia and her purges was convincing. The promise of plentiful grazing land, terraced farms, and protection from the outside world to prevent another genocide was more than enough to align the other Thanes. And, even better, they had elected Thane Mol to stand in as the Sloren representative to Lady Rivers\' council.

As they approached the mountains, the Sloren were taken aback in shock at the change that was only visible now that they were closer. The mountain facing them was sheer cliff. There was an enormous keep with high walls abutting the river, and a guarded river-gate with Duskari atop the walls. There were shouts in Arinol, and the Sloren were admitted through the fortification. They traveled along a road that went under the mountains and emerged to find a large lake with several Ari longboats being unloaded.

Thane Mol looked around and spotted the Duskari woman with draconic features – Lyn Rivers. She had a raven perched upon her horn, and he waved to her. She walked over and he chuckled, "Ah, lass. Ye did a fine job. Them walls, divided pastures…" he pointed up to the mountains behind them, where carved stone steps led up to the unmistakable structure of terraced farms replete with small houses seemingly molded from a single chunk of stone. "This be incredible."

Lyn smiled and replied in Sloren, "Good. You\'re going to help me run it." She looked up at her raven, said something in Arinol, and the bird replied back in the same language before flying off towards Shiverburn Summit. She swapped back to his language, "Your people are now my people. They are under my protection within the Valley of the Volcano\'s borders."

Thane Mol nodded and let out a raucous laugh, slapping the Destroyer on her armored shoulder, "Yer a good lass. I\'ll get me folks set up. Where do ye want me after?"

"Lynhold," she replied, pointing to the volcano, "You\'re going to be my new Steward."

A set of slitted, metal doors blocked the rivers. Naila looked up at the walls of the fortification defending The Rill from outsiders, and called out in Arinol, "Aye! Open up! Lady Rivers invited us in!"

A Duskari head popped over the edge of the wall and called back down to her, "Give us a minute! We\'re still trying to figure out how to open it!"

Naila cursed and looked around as they waited. The Northern shore of the river was cut off by a high wall that met with the fortress. The Southern shore was open and flat save for the small bank that led down to the water. This is an impressive fortification, she thought. And it will make getting our boats out to the ocean easy. Ari were the only sailors who had perfect the craft of shallow-draft boats that could travel along any river system on Ghomar, and even traverse the deep ocean if they had a mind to do so. Looking back down the line of ships, she tapped her foot impatiently.

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The child sitting near her tugged on her shirt. "What?" She asked the boy. He pointed to the walls and said something in Shereldian. Naila had pulled one of the Ari from that region who fled the Valagonian purges to her vessel. "What\'s he saying?"

The Valagonian Ari pointed to the side of the gate, "He said there is something written there."

Naila squinted her eyes. Elenthir. Damn, I don\'t know it well enough. "Bring up one of the elders!" she shouted.

There was some commotion down the line of boats as one of the elders deftly leaped up to join her in the lead. She pointed to the inscription, and he squinted his eyes before grinning. "An inscription," he stated. "Take us closer!" Naila gave the order, and the elder placed his hand on the inscription. He closed his eyes and she could feel the mana thrum in the air around him. The inscription lit up with a light, clear blue color.

The gate shifted and lifted upward, eliciting shouts from the Duskari on the walls. One of them leaned over, "What did you do?!"

Naila instructed her rowers to take them through the gate. When they reached the other side, she scanned the walls and spotted a similar verse carved into the walls. "An inscription," she stated, pointing to the wall. She turned back to the dark tunnel that the river came from, "Forward!" she shouted.

Lyn waved to several Sloren as they began to disperse from the lakeside and leave the tunnel. Some went towards Lynhold, but most began to ascend the stairs to their new homes upon the terraced mountain farmsteads. That should help fix some of our crop issues, she thought. Not being reliant on subservient kingdoms would be a boon for her stronghold. But I really could use the flora external spell type. With that, she could create fully grown staple crops and amass huge stores of foodstuffs. But she could not spend all her mana and time doing that. We have to be self-sufficient enough to enable survival without my presence.

After all, she had more dungeons to clear. More heroes to free from their trapped existence inside their cores. She would be traveling for diplomacy purposes as well. The whole point of having a council was to shift responsibilities of the day-to-day operations off of her and onto them. I can employ Thomas as the Court Scholar, Trisha as the Court Physician in conjunction with Brad. That still leaves me looking for a Seneschal and Architect. The former would ideally run the day-to-day operations within Lynhold and the Valley of the Volcano as a whole if Lyn was even absent for a lengthy period of time. The latter would be able to plan out expansions until the Valley was fully developed; including setting up industries to take advantage of their large number of unskilled laborers.

She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard the plap of oars on water. Looking up at the lake, she saw the first of the boats from the Arin Isle entering the Valley. At the head was Naila, who spotted Lyn and waved her hand. A smaller shape also waved from next to her – the Shereldian boy who was rescued. Lyn waited at one of the stone quays she had erected when crafting the lake and redirecting the spring that was the source of The Rill\'s water. "How was the journey?" She called out as they approached.

"Smooth sailing," Naila replied as they pulled alongside the quay and tied off to it. The other boats began filling up the large lake and tying off as well. The large Ari woman hefted Gil out onto the quay, "This one was quiet."

Lyn nodded as a flapping noise caused her to glance up. Whisperwing landed on her horn, "Oh, what a nice flight! That nice old lady got the heads up!"

Lyn reached up and scratched his head, "You speak all languages I do, yes?"

"Of course! I\'m a very smart bird."

She switched to Shereldian, "Hey, Gil. I\'m going to have Whisperwing here guide you to Lynhold. He\'ll take you to my friend, Gael." She looked up at Whisperwing, "Got it? Take him to Gael and tell Gael to find him housing."

"You got it!" Whisperwing flapped off her head and onto the ground in front of Gil.

The boy was wide-eyed, "A talking bird?"

"You know it! Come on, let\'s get you someplace fantastic!" Whisperwing hopped along the ground as Gil followed it along.

Naila shook her head, "I assume spells to make the ravens your messengers?"

Lyn swapped to Arinol and nodded, "Yes. You will have one as well."

Naila raised an appraising eyebrow, "Why is that?"

"You\'re going to be my Admiral until someone better displaces you. You\'ve proven yourself by getting the whole of the Ari here in one piece." She gestured to the buildings surrounding the lake, "They can stay here near the lake, or move towards Lynhold. I know how fond the Ari from your Conclaves are of the water, and while I want people of various races to integrate within my empire\'s borders, I want my people to be happy above all else."

Naila nodded and turned to the elder who had stepped off of the boat and had been listening in on their conversation, "Let\'s get our people settled in."

Brad rode in front of the column, holding up his badge from Lyn as he shouted up at the gates the Arinol word for "Enter!"

Thomas shook his head, If only he\'d learned the language. Thomas rummaged inside his own pouch and produced the same emblem, holding it up and speaking in perfect Arinol, "I am the Knowledge hero. We were invited by Lady Rivers."

The Duskari atop the wall nodded, and a few moments later the large gates ponderously swung inward to greet them. A squadron stood at the ready on the other side, but relaxed slightly as Brad rode up to them. "You brought back quite a large number," the Duskari squad leader stated in Arinol.

Brad blinked in confusion, and Thomas rode up, "He doesn\'t know the language well. I\'m fluent. Yes, we have a large group. Healers and their protectors, as well as the Guardian and Healer heroes and their family." He smiled gently, "We\'re here to help the empire grow."

"Right, follow us down the tunnel." The Duskari squadron turned around and led the large train down the expanded tunnel.

Thomas remembered this place perfectly despite the expansion. The memories of the heroes infiltrating the Valley of the Volcano to confront the Demonic Dragon was vivid in his mind. The struggle they faced pushing through the Duskari forces that were now treating them without prejudice, despite him recognizing the faces of two that they had fought and who fled from the hero party. Hopefully they don\'t hold grudges, he thought.

Ben rode up beside him, "We\'re too far in to get out," he muttered in English. "But you\'re confident we can trust this Lyn?"

Brad rode up behind the two, "Of course we can trust Lyn."

"Why didn\'t Volio come with you?" Ben asked the Alchemist hero.

"He was probably off doing some errand," he replied. "He was delivering a letter to Misty after you. He\'ll probably arrive after us."

Ben nodded and pulled his lead back to rejoin Trisha. Brad rode up in his place alongside Thomas, "We\'re going to do some amazing things for this new world order."

The Knowledge hero grimaced. He had read plenty of historical accounts of rulers throughout Earth\'s history that ended up in a horror show. Thankfully, he had those memories, and would be able to guide Lyn towards better decisions than those rulers made. "As long as we keep our heads on our shoulders and not in the clouds," he replied. "Keep grounded, you know?"

Brad popped a stick of chewing gum into his mouth, "Totally. Want some?"

Thomas chuckled and took one of the sticks, savoring the sweet, tangy flavor of lime. More important than that, he thought, is what I need to tell Lyn I discovered at the Ruins of Elent.