Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Gelia

Wolstan led the way down a brilliant paved road with raindrops carved into. Trees surrounded them from all sides but unlike the road from Zertold to Trilx he didn’t fear wild Drenid attacks due to the number of knights walking the road with Drenids at their sides.

The knights wore stunning blue outfits that shimmered like the ocean as the sun hit them. Plated gauntlets adorned their arms and swords sat at their hip which Wolstan didn’t quite understand; he figured their Drenids did most of the fighting. Each knight that passed nodded Wolstan’s way and he returned the friendly gesture but Esta seemed unnerved by it.

She crossed her arms across her sigil in an attempt to conceal it which she had been doing ever since she learned it's how the librarian figured her out. 

“Why are there so many of them? It’s never been like this…” She said as another troop of them passed.

“Probably because of the amount of hunters heading to Gelia,” Wolstan said. They had met so many groups of hunters he wondered how big the capital must have been to fit them all. “That tells us Evrou- my dad, hasn’t given his speech yet at least.” 

“Ever the optimist now, aren’t you?” Esta said. 

“It’s hard not to be with you at my side,” Wolstan said and Esta turned away from him.

He said that but truth be told he didn’t feel very optimistic but didn’t want to worry Esta. There was still the issue of how he’d get a meeting with his father and he still feared Rania’s condition. 

Esta warned him away from summoning her to check on her and assured him she would heal but he couldn’t help worrying. She got hurt because of him, he had to apologize to her and promise to do better.

And then there was the thing that worried him most. The book.

There hadn’t been much time to read it but from what he gleaned from ‘The Unique Types…’ it was a simple book about the different unique types an adventurer had encountered. But that couldn’t have been all, something or someone placed the book in the cellar for him to have, there had to have been some secret to it.

“I know what’s bothering you,” Esta said. Wolstan snapped out of his thoughts at once.

“You do?”

“It’s Aki and Desa, isn’t it?” She said and looked to the ground. “I know humans have a hard time dealing with death but I wasn’t lying when I told you they’ll be fine. Rania would have been too if she fell.”

That took Wolstan by surprise, Aki and Desa were actually the furthest thing on his mind but from the look on Esta’s face, she hadn’t forgotten. And to be fair he was curious about the inner workings of Drenid death.

“I trust your judgment, if you think that was for the best I’ll leave it there.” Wolstan said and Esta perked up. “I was curious though, you said a Drenid returns to their hunter if they’re still alive. What happens if they’re dead?”

“We lose our memories and powers and reappear somewhere in Pluveria. Same as if we die without being caught. It’s preferable to what happens to humans in my opinion but it has its drawbacks.”

“So if you were to die?”

“That would probably be the last time we’d see each other. I’d disappear and wouldn’t be a [Wendigo] anymore and you’d have no way of finding me or recognizing me except my name.”

That thought both terrified and fascinated Wolstan. It meant Drenids were functionally immortal but also there was a chance however small that Esta could have disappeared during their last fight. 

He looked over to her, remembered her skull mask, and realized that wasn’t entirely true; she hadn’t taken a single scratch in her scuffle with Aki. The only reason their fight took so long was because of how cramped the cellar was. Even so he wouldn’t risk letting her fight if she didn’t have to.

“Hey, if it comes to it try not to fight if you don’t have to, okay?” Wolstan said, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

“Aw, you’re worried about me?” Esta said and playfully pinched Wolstan’s cheek. “Well, there’s no need to worry, remember? I said I won’t interfere unless it's an emergency so you can grow. I counted the seeds as a special exception.”

“Right,” Wolstan said, messaging his cheek; even when Esta’s fingers weren’t claws her nails were still sharp. “Wait, so just how old are you?”

Esta beamed and puffed out her chest. “One hundred and fifty-eight. Relatively old by human standards but some of the Natrius elders are supposedly over ten thousand. And this is just a rumor but they say some of the unique Drenids were there when we first came into being.” 

Wolstan’s mind raced into overdrive hearing that but he held himself back. There was a ways to go to Gelia and he had to pace himself so he wouldn’t exhaust her with questions.

***

They walked the road to Gelia exchanging stories and laughing. Other hunters gave them odd looks but Esta told him to ignore them saying it was just because he was strange. He asked several times what she and the train conductor meant by that but she kept waving it off.

It wasn’t long before the road widened and they found themselves in long lines where haggard knights were scrutinizing every hunter entering and exiting the city. 

“This is taking forever, I just want to get home and relax.” An irritated woman beside him said. She wore fine purple clothing and expensive-looking rings adorned her fingers. She was exactly what Wolstan pictured when he thought of someone who lived in Gelia.

“You live in the city?” He asked.

The woman looked taken aback that he was talking to her but played it off quickly. “Yes, and if they had more knights I’d be inside already!” Her eyes drooped and she sighed. “I’m sorry, it’s not your fault. It’s those Whiteflag idiots. We shouldn’t need this much security for a simple speech!”

“Whiteflag?” Wolstan asked. The name sounded familiar but he couldn’t remember where he’d heard it.

“The conductor said something about them, remember?” Esta reminded him.

The woman held her hand to her throat. “You let it speak for you?” 

Wolstan’s brow furrowed. “She, just reminded me where I heard the name. What’s it to you?”

“You call it, she! Where exactly are you from?”

“Zertold, not that it makes any difference,” Wolstan said, holding his head high. 

The woman cringed as if she smelled something unpleasant. “Excuse me, I think I forgot something back there.” She said and let a few people skip in front of her.

Esta roared with laughter while Wolstan seethed.

He had had enough of people looking down on him simply because of where he was from. Before he could give the woman a piece of his mind Esta ushered him forward to a free knight.

The man pointed his Dredot Wolstan’s way and read his screen. “Says here you only have one Drenid, this it?” 

Wolstan was about to correct the man but Esta put a hand on his shoulder and nodded. It didn’t look like the weary knight would care.

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“Tribe?” The knight asked.

“Natrius.” Wolstan answered roughly. 

“Ooh, rare.” The man said looking Esta up and down; she concealed her sigil and smiled. “You’re free to enter, stay out of trouble, report to the knights if you have a problem, and enjoy your stay.” He said and waved Wolstan in.

This time Wolstan didn’t have time to fume or ask Esta about their odd encounter with the woman or the knight. He got his first full view of Gelia and it was even more magnificent than Trilx.

Towering stone walls encircled the city, knights walked on top of them as they looked down on searching for trouble. There were troops of playwrights and jesters roaming the streets performing as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Far in the distance a gigantic estate spanned many acres and had throngs of people gathered in front of its large moat and drawbridge. It had to be Leyford. Beside it, stood a circular tower where the knights probably slept. There was even what looked like a zoo but its sign advertised exotic Drenids from around the kingdom.

Best of all everything looked so pristine. It was like every building had been scrubbed down from the largest restaurant to the smallest estate (which was still bigger than any in Zertold). 

Wolstan stood thunderstruck for a moment until his eyes landed on a building named Diamond Hill Medical. He looked at Rania’s dot and remembered what was most important. 

“Come on, we should get Rania an appointment,” he said, tearing himself away from the magnificent city.

“Are you sure? We can look around a little, it’s not like she’ll get worse.” Esta said.

“No, not until I know she’s in good hands.” 

Esta shrugged and together they made it into the spacious but empty hospital. The only people present were a man who seemed to be missing an eye, a woman who kept babbling to herself, and a man with a scaly Drenid that was vomiting profusely. 

Wolstan approached the counter and got one of the nurse’s attention. “One of my Drenids got injured, is this is the right place to take her?” 

The nurse nodded. “Just summon her and we’ll see what we can do.”

Wolstan double-tapped Rania’s dot and she appeared but fainted at once. Her wound had shrunk considerably but her face was still pale, she clearly needed more healing. 

With Esta’s help, they got her on the counter and the nurse wasted no time examining her before nodding again. She snapped her fingers and two orderlies appeared and carted Rania into a side room. “Present your Dredot.”

Not knowing what was happening Wosltan did as he was told and the nurse pressed his device until it blinked blue. 

“Alright, your Dredot should buzz when we’re done, until then feel free to go about your day.” The nurse said. “Oh, and please have payment ready when you get back, else we can set up a payment plan.”

“Really? That’s all?” Wolstan asked in disbelief. He thought she’d tell him Rania’s condition or at least if he should worry or not.”

“That’s all, see you soon.” 

Wolstan stood there a moment but after seeing the nurse wouldn’t budge he walked out wondering how she could be so indifferent. He was worried about Rania more than ever, exploring Gelia didn’t seem interesting at all anymore.

In fact, his entire experience in the capital had been a bust so far and he only just entered. There were people around him sitting on their struggling Drenid’s backs as they tried to carry around their overweight humans. Others lugged heavy carts filled with merchandise and heavy machinery while their hunters barked orders and harsh insults. And that wasn’t mentioning the people who kept referring to Drenids as its.

It was nothing like life in Zertold, Drenids and humans lived in relative harmony, and yet if he asked Esta why she’d just call him strange or say it was because he was from Zertold.

He was sick of it.

He stopped in the shadow of a skyscraper and planted his feet. He wouldn’t move an inch until he had answers.

“What's wrong? First time seeing a building this big?” Esta laughed.

Wolstan took a breath to calm himself. “Why is everyone acting so weird?” He asked.

“Oh, still on that? It’s not that they’re acting weird it’s just-”

“Stop! Stop telling me it’s me that's weird or it's because I’m from Zertold. People have been rude not only to me but also you ever since we left the village and you just keep taking the abuse. What am I missing?”

Esta paused as if thinking of what to say, dropped her arms from her chest, and pointed to a bench in the skyscraper’s shadow. After they were seated she looked up to the sky.

 “Wolstan, why did I drop you off in Zertold?” 

“What?”

“Out of all the cities in Pluveria why did I leave you in a backwoods village like Zertold? There weren’t many kids there your age, and to be completely honest you would've prospered better in an actual city like Wrebert or Drerena forbid Flexton. So why Zertold?”

Now that Wolstan thought about it, it didn’t make much sense. If she wanted what was best for him like she said Zertold wasn’t a great choice to raise a child. He loved the village to bits but it couldn’t compete even with neighboring cities like Trilx.

“One of the reasons is because Zertold is one of the last places in the kingdom that practices Drenid worship.” Esta continued once it was obvious Wolstan didn’t have an answer. “The kingdom proper outlawed the practice in favor of the six spirits about a hundred years ago but Zertold does things a little differently, especially with how secluded the village is and their legends about Zertold forest. People there treat Drenids like family.”

“And that’s not the same in the rest of the kingdom?”

Esta shook her head. “Hunters don’t force us to fight as much ever since your father did what he did but it isn’t much better. Menial labor, being taken away from our families and villages, rough treatment, and well just outright refusing to refer to us as he or she, that’s just life. You get used to it after a while…”

Wolstan jumped up and stared at her in disbelief. From the look, she gave him she was being sincere but he could see a flicker of sadness behind it. He didn’t know what to say. He had apparently been sheltered his entire life.

“Are all hunters like that then? Was Evrouin?”

“No, not all. Especially from what I've seen from the younger ones, they seem to care about us more for some reason, and that’s not to mention people like Lofus who devote their lives to us.” She said and took a breath. “And yes, Evrouin was like that too. He used me as an assassin. If there were people opposing the monarchy or wild Drenids rampaging they’d get taken out by a mysterious white-skulled Drenid in the night.”

That explained how nonchalant she was about killing and how high her level was but he somehow couldn’t picture her killing humans. He was at least glad to hear he wasn’t the only person who thought of Drenids as family; he wondered if Whiteflag was really made up of criminals.

Wolstan wanted to ask more but a siren went off coming from the castle. 

Esta jumped up from the bench, refusing to meet Wolstan’s eye. “Looks like your father’s speech is starting. Shall we?”

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