Depthless Hunger

Technically Kai had been in the Coiled Empire before, but that had just been a stop on the way into the Commonwealth. This time they were landing on the end of the peninsula, in the largest city in the Empire. The large population potentially meant trouble, but it would also have an embassy for the Elven Wilds. The best plan they'd agreed upon was to catch up on Rosemount, contact old allies, and plan from there.

The most obvious difference in the capital was that there were lamias everywhere, but that didn't particularly surprise Kai anymore. It seemed like they wanted to put massive fancy domes on all their buildings, but otherwise it wasn't so different from other major cities in Rosemount. Once his group got away from the docks they blended in with the chaotic mix of races.

Zae Zin Nim wanted to use the diamond star to float above the crowds, but Omilaena insisted otherwise. Instead she took them to a street filled with rickshaws and picked one pulled by an unusually large lamia. As soon as they sat in back, she vigorously took them into the city.

"Well, you're a cute group!" The lamia looked back at them occasionally despite the speed at which she was slithering, smiling all the while. "You folks enjoying the city? Anything you're looking to see?"

After she spoke Zae Zin Nim's eyes widened and she whispered an incredulous "Why is she talking to us?" to Omilaena, who shushed her.

"This is why we're here." Omilaena then raised her voice to an audible volume and cheerfully addressed the lamia. "We're just visiting! But is it true what they say?"

"Oh, I'm afraid so! Demons lurking all the way at the tail end of the Coiled Empire! I thought it was just rumors but my cousin works as a guard and he said they lost a whole company. But all that talk about the Empress being injured? Nonsense! People act like she was out here in public every day before, but obviously she's got better things to do than rub scales with us."

"That's scary stuff," Omilaena said with exaggerated concern. "There aren't actually demons around here in the city itself, are there?"

"Gods, I hope not. Listen, if you want to be safe, it's actually better to stay out of the government district. Lots of trouble there these days."

The lamia seemed eager to share gossip on any imaginable topic and Omilaena adroitly guided her to politics. As far as Kai could piece things together, the Commonwealth had officially disavowed a group of demons who attacked the Coiled Empire, but everyone believed they were actually there on an official mission. What alarmed everyone was that Matiavel had visited and there were rumors that he had fought the Empress, leaving her critically injured despite her legendary defenses. Kai was unclear on how much of this was pure rumor and whether the Empress would normally have made public appearances.

By the time they reached the elven embassy, Kai felt like he had a basic grasp of the current political situation on Rosemount. At least until they left the rickshaw and walked in, only to find the building completely empty.

"Could something have happened to the Council of Elders?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"I asked on the docks," Omilaena said, "and they're still in conflict with the Commonwealth. I suppose they might have pulled back their ambassadors if the political situation became too dangerous."

"Then what do we do? I haven't seen a single elf in the city so far."

"We may have to hire an independent teleporter. It's expensive and wouldn't be as private, but in theory we should be able to find someone in a city this large."

Since the embassy seemed to be completely abandoned, the three of them turned around to go. Only to spot cloaked lamias rushing at them, and then suddenly magic took hold of them. It was completely different from elven winds, instead a coiling power that Kai had just started to resist before their whole group disappeared.

They emerged in the wilderness with lamias surrounding them. Even during the attack Kai's group had shifted to have their backs to one another and the teleportation hadn't ruined their formation, so Kai formed claws and prepared for a fight. These lamias were reasonably strong, with Power of 500 or more, and he tried to examine one of them more closely...

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Only to be interrupted by a lamia stepping forward and dropping his sword.

"Forgive us for contacting you this way, but we needed a secure location." The others hadn't disarmed themselves, but the leader approached with arms raised passively. "Please listen first."

"Why did you ambush us?" Kai demanded.

"It wasn't our original plan. Listen to me... the demons struck the elven embassy last month and the elves evacuated their most valuable ambassadors. We've been watching it ever since, wondering if they would try again. But when we saw you come here... aren't you the foreigners who used to work for the Council of Elders?"

Kai let his arms relax, but he still wasn't sure what to make of the situation. When he glanced to Omilaena, she spoke up for them. "Weren't we officially disavowed?"

"Maybe publicly, but word is that it was because of pressure from Cloudspire." The lamia shook his head. "Look, I'm not an expert in all of that. But this is a delicate situation and we had to approach you. We assume you came back to contact the elves?"

"Does it matter what we answer?"

"We can make contact despite the evacuation. However... we'd like to hire you first."

"We aren't mercenaries," Zae Zin Nim said flatly.

"Please listen!" The lamia wasn't sweating but he looked anxious and Kai wondered if his career was riding on this. "The Coiled Empire has always taken care of its own problems, but these demons are too good at evading us. We can't keep allowing them to strike internally and we can't catch them either. So we need you to help us the way you helped the elves."

Even though Kai wasn't aware of the full political situation, he thought this man was telling the truth. He looked to Omilaena in case there was an obvious political trap he was missing and she simply looked thoughtful. Zae Zin Nim shrugged, as if to say she didn't care, but she also made an equivocal hand motion. Most likely the other two were thinking that if the Coiled Empire wasn't trying to use them as pawns, it would be good to have another power on Rosemount in their debt.

"We're willing to listen," Omilaena said eventually. "What do you want us to do?"

"The demons are trying to assassinate important members of the Empire, from lesser royalty to important merchants," the lamia said. "If you agree to help, we'll arrange for a lower-ranked princess to try to evacuate with a believably small guard. You can follow them secretly and counter-ambush the demons when they strike."

"That seems like a sound plan in theory, but are you so sure they'll actually attack? We don't have time to follow caravans for weeks until one finally get ambushed."

"We may not be able to intercept the demons, but we have learned much about how they operate. If we set up a rich enough target for them, we're sure they'll attack. You won't even have to wait long. But we need your pledge to keep this completely secret, because relying on outsiders would be a great shame for us."

Zae Zin Nim slid her hands into her sleeves and considered. "And in return?"

"Aside from our gratitude and transportation to the Elven Wilds or wherever you want to go... would a payment be enough? We could give you rich chakra sources to enhance your strength."

"Hmm, what about the Coiled Vault?" Omilaena asked.

The lamia drew himself up higher, which was impressive given how far he could rise on his tail. "We're asking you to help us with a problem, not save the Empire! Be reasonable."

They discussed it amongst themselves for a while, but the logic seemed clear enough to Kai. The lamias could clearly control access to the elves and it would be a huge problem to try to force their way through the Coiled Empire or sail somewhere else. Considering that there were few demons on the continent and they were consistently the aggressors, Kai didn't see how they could be used against someone they wouldn't be fighting anyway.

So in the end they agreed and were escorted to another wilderness location. So far the lamia guards had learned that there were four attackers: three demonic arts users and one true demon. Allegedly the last was one of Matiavel's disciples and rumored to be extremely dangerous, having killed an important member of the royal guard in a past conflict.

It seemed like the lamias were nervous about confronting these demons and Kai wondered if they were trying to push off a deadly problem on them. Zae Zin Nim only seemed to care about whether the reward would be worth the time and effort involved. Omilaena remained quiet, examining the lamias and keeping her thoughts to herself.

The ambush was set up within a couple days while the three of them were put up in a luxurious - but very remote - inn. Then it was finally time for them to head out and, theoretically, intercept a demon ambush.

When they were finally sent out to the remote road, everything was as they'd been promised. There was a palanquin moving down the road from the city, with a half dozen guards of around 400 Power. Strong enough to protect against most threats, but basically just prey to the top demons. If the person in the palanquin was really such a tempting target, then maybe the counter-ambush would work.

They followed the palanquin for half a day without anything happening. Omilaena watched it with an odd expression the entire time before she finally pulled Kai aside.

"There's something they're not telling us," she said.

"You think they're setting us up?" Kai asked.

"Likely not that." Omilaena pulled on her goggles and examined the palanquin again. "It's remotely possible that they just need to have all their strongest warriors accounted for in order to lure out the demons. But that palanquin is far more fortified than it needs to be... I can sense one lamia inside, presumably the princess, but I can't escape the feeling..."

"Enough talk!" Zae Zin Nim leapt beside them and gestured brusquely. "The demons are here."

In that moment Kai saw the demon strike force swept out of the hills, sweeping down on their target.