Tales of the Ice Harpy from Glacia

Karla hadn't expected to return to Yllestad after finding the field full of witchblood. But then the storm had blown up, and Yllestad was the only closest city where the entire army could bunk down for the night. There was no question of her people trying to set up tents tonight. The storm had beaten them here and moved northward, but they were still dealing with the gale-force winds and the odd spats of hail.They would take shelter wherever they could until the storm blew out and then settle up then. The prospect of good food and warm quarters had the army far more cheerful than one would expect, marching as they were through a literal dark and stormy night. The south gate had stood open for them, as if Yllestad had expected their return and they were only too glad to take the city up on its welcome. They entered from the south, glad to get out of the stinging wind, good-naturedly arguing which places has the most comfortable beds and most fortifying wines.

( Warning for descriptions of dead NPCs )

Fuck. Someone needed to do something. Say something. Find out what happened. There was a moment when Karla looked around, searching for someone to take command, to be the voice of authority that her people needed.

Right. Her people. That voice of authority needed to be her.

"Spread out," she barked, voice brittle. "Try to find any survivors. There have to be some, somewhere." She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more: herself or her army. "Be thorough. Don't touch anything until we can get a better idea of what happened here! Be careful! Go in groups, cover more ground!"

She pointed towards the center of town. "GO!"

( And so they searched... )

***

Karla stopped dead--who even thought of that phrase? why do people use it? why is my brain even thinking about this stuff right now? shouldn't it be working on something more important?--when she saw what the soldier was standing over. Another body, yes, but this one was wearing a jacket.

Of course he's wearing a jacket. It's winter in Glacia, bint, everyone's wearing jackets, you could freeze to death out here!

Her brain jabbered on, trying to get her to think about ANYTHING other than the horrors in front of--behind, beside, near, far, everywhere, Mother Night everywhere--her. Karla did her best to focus, kneeling down to brush the snow and mud away. Yep, as she'd thought. The jacket was one of the big, comfortable down ones that Jono's team had been outfitted with, including the patch that half of the army had stayed up late sewing onto their shoulders.

This was one of Jono's scouts.

"Warren," she said tightly. "Warren, I need you up in the air. I need you up there now and I need you to tell me what you see."


( The news just keeps getting worse. )

***

Momoko sat straight up and looked around a moment. She'd learned over the past few months in Glacia that when she heard this faint sound of Karla's voice and felt the small tug at the back of her head, it meant Karla was broadcasting something. And broadcasting instead of calling was Not Good.

But since she wasn't telepathic, she wasn't getting the message.

"Dinah?! Samantha?! De..." She had to swallow hard when she almost called to Denys. "I hear Karla..."

"What's going on?"


( The call no one wants to get. )

[WARNING FOR THE AFTERMATH OF TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE, INCLUDING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DEAD. Follows this, because,yeah, let's get this party started war ended! Preplayed with the wonderful crew of folks you see here. NFI, NFB, OOC is love.]

A little more than a week ago, Karla had sent the vast majority of her Court away from Haven. One could hardly have a proper processional through one's home Territory without people smoothing the way. There were perspective soldiers to assemble, food to purchase, lodgings to prepare, Province Queens to quietly contact...And so Karla had sent her Court to prepare her way, possibly cackling, "Fly, my pretties, fly!" to herself because a girl has to make her own fun sometimes.

A few days later, a 'gift' from Khary and Morghann had come in the shape of a dozen beautiful Scelt-bred horses, led by four kindred Warlord horses. Those four stopped before Karla, Warren, Raven, and Dinah and bowed, giving each a respectful greeting from Lord Khardeen--though from Warren's rueful burst of laughter, it was likely that Khary had included a special message just for him.

The next morning at long-enough-after-dawn-for-coffee-because-we're-not-barbarians-Mother-Night-though-it's-still-a-ridiculous-time-to-leave o'clock, they headed out of Haven and made for Glacia. Though mountain traveling was never comfortable or easy, they made good time; they were too late for shockingly-fast summer storms and too early for the ferocious autumn ones. Though it snowed several times during their crossing, the snow itself was light and did not impede them much. With kindred horses leading the way, they didn't even need to worry about the horses finding proper footing or running the risk of broken ankles.

For a trip through mountains heading to war, it was surprisingly good natured. There was singing and story-telling, conversation and contemplation, bickering and bonding. They made good time and Karla was almost sorry to leave the mountains behind. Because the easy part of the summer was over. Now it was time to get down to work.

The first village they rode into had a surprise for them. There was Julian greeting them on the outskirts of the village wearing an insouciant grin. "My lady," he said with an exaggerated bow. "May I have the honor of giving you a present to celebrate the formation of your Court?"

Karla raised an eyebrow. "I do like presents," she agreed, confused but willing to play along. "Is it my uncle's head on a platter?"

Smirking, Julian shook his head. "No, but possibly better." He led her horse through the village to the open green at the center of it. Though very little of the green could be seen through the mass of men and women standing at strict attention, lined up in orderly, if somewhat ragged lines. "Lady," Julian said, with a bow, "may I present the beginnings of your army."

[For the Glacian contingent! NFB]

It was almost time for then to catch their portal home, but Morton had cautiously decided that there was enough time to visit one more landen village before they left. Even Julian didn't have much a problem with this, mollified by the five Blood males (and seven females) that Karla had handwavily, because cons are exhausting offered a place in her First Circle, once she'd made her Offering.

Once there, they'd scattered to their respective duties with an ease that came with having done the same thing many times within the past two weeks. Karla took over whatever building was the largest, more interested in being a Healer than a Queen, taking care of whatever ailments came her way, either with Craft, mundane medicines, or just some brisk advice. Warren sat nearby, making sure she had plenty to eat and drink, while talking to the people about their problems and their woes, making sure they felt heard, understood, and cared for. People who might otherwise have been afraid to come to Karla were set at ease by his openness and, more importantly, his lack of Jewel.

Jono and Julian were teamed up elsewhere, talking frankly about the war that Karla would be bringing to Glacia, about her plans to depose the current Queen and her Ruling Council, and making it clear that any landen who wished to fight--or even learn to better defend his village--was welcome to join with them. Jono made it very clear that the landens that joined with them would be more than simply fodder for the Blood. Their willingness to fight for a Queen that would see them as people too had even Julian offering a grudging respect.

Morton was out in the fields, delivering the Queen's Gift to nourish the crops. A cupful of Karla's blood in a bucket of water was enough to give the tiny plants new life and fullness, ensuring that the village could meet their new tithes while still having enough leftover for themselves. And Kaelas remained outside of the village, keeping watch with his superior kindred senses, which he never failed to point out to their group of tiny noses and ineffectual teeth.

[NFB, and all PCs modded with permission. Violence and dark themes in the comments, because what would a trip to Glacia be without those?]

The portal had dropped them off in the outskirts of Haven. Portalocity tech was one more thing that Karla could add to the list of information she didn't want most Kaeleerans to have, especially her enemies. But Haven wasn't that far from the Glacian border, which meant it was the ideal staging ground for their reconnaissance missions. They could slip into Glacia without Hobart being the wiser and then move around from there. She knew he was watching the Winds, so they'd stick to roads and private Coaches as much as possible, but they should be able to see much of the Territory while they were here.

It helped, of course, that they'd have a few native guides and a system of safe-houses already prepared. The underground movement had been working overtime lately.

"Morton!"

[NFB and SP]

Karla was feeling wonderful as she slowly started heading towards consciousness. Last night had been amazing, simply amazing and she snuggled close to where Warren was curled up. Mmm, he was so warm and soft and...

Soft? That was not actually one of the words she would use to describe her boyfriend. Her hand crept up and--

WARREN MOST CERTAINLY DID NOT HAVE A PAIR OF THOSE!

Her eyes flew open as she bolted up, clutching the sheet to her chin. Looking frantically around, Karla realized three things:

1) She was waking up in a room that she did not recognize,

2) She was stark naked, and

3) Neither of the people she was waking up next to were the male she went to bed with.

"Hell's fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful."

( In which Karla's dignity hits a new low. )


( Julian Hagen was unaware his bad fortnight had just gotten worse. )

[NFI, NFB, OOC is love! Preplayed with the amazingness that is blondecanary and trigons_child. Coded with the amazingness that is whateverknight's preplay coder. Warning for spoilers for Queen of the Darkness.]

(Cont. from here)

( Wherein they learn what really happened to Karla. )

Karla was glad they had spent the night at the Hall, rather than turning around and heading straight for the meeting spot. Not only did Morton look better for a decent night's sleep for a change, but the route they had taken to get back to Glacia was circuitous at best. Karla hadn't been able to sense anyone following, but Morton wasn't willing to take the chance of a direct route. Nor would he let Karla take them on the Sapphire Wind, which would have cut the travel time down by half, if not more. But Morton had argued that taking the Wind associated with her Birthright was a dead-giveaway in case anyone was watching that one, and made them stick to the Rose.

The worst part? Ben agreed with him. This was not helping Morton's belief that he was the reincarnation of Bund in the least.

Not that Karla was grumpy or anything. No, not at all. In fact, she was in a perfectly swimming mood for someone who had been dragged all around the Realm, then snuck across the border into her own damned Territory, to end up in this cabin in the middle of the mountains, wearing a long, blue dress that was completely impractical to move about in, and then told to wait for the other males to arrive. Where she would then get to convince them that not only was she really Karla, that also that she was going to be an excellent Queen one day, so they should risk their lives for her right now, while she was off going on dates in Fandom.

Wonderful. How could this plan fail?

[For the two in Glacia with her, please. NFB for distance]