We collapsed backwards into the snow having pulled the broken wagon's husk from the river like it was a beached leviathan we had fished from its depths. And just like such a prize, a feast spilled out from its bowels, only this feast was our ruined supplies.

  “That’s it, I’m done. I’m headed right back down south this instant.”

  Completely winded Mr. Yeddle lamented the climate, forgetting that he had already issued a transfer to a more northern region. Hopefully since Tembalburg is more to the east and not quite as far north, he wouldn’t come to regret that decision.

  “Oh, come off it. We’ve been through worse over the past couple of weeks. C’mon let’s salvage what we can.”

  Thomas stretched his limbs theatrically looking to have just as much vigor as Lieutenant Aaron beside him. Really, what was this scrubber made of? I thought this to myself as I stretched myself like a perfect mimic. It was a bit hard on my sore arms. I suppose that the front I was trying to put on at the time didn’t only extend to a mental tole.

  “We’ve been through worse once, but I’m with Thomas for looking towards the bright side. We shouldn’t be to far off right now if Ray and Karen are to be believed even if we’ve slightly lost our position and I’m sure at least some of the food is…well that box doesn’t look like the water seeped in at least.”

  As I voiced my optimism, I thought about how losing our bearings could very well have us headed in the wrong direction. We could head north no problem, but if we were far enough off the trail, we might just pass by without realizing it. Everyone would understand that better than I did myself, but it didn’t stop me from trying to cheer them up. It’s what Bennie would have said.

  “See look at that. Combine this with a bit of that elk we’ve been finding the past few days and just like Douglass said we’ll be riding into Monderlow well fed ready for a good old fashion capital feast.”

  “Are you under the impression we’re constantly having feast in the capital?”

  “I am, and I’m going to stay under that impression after what you’ve put us through with full expectations that it will be fulfilled.”

  “Hmph, you’ll be fed well enough scrubber.”

  “Looks like he’ll be able to show you my real hometown hospitality. Just wait until you try the gilded pheasant.”

  It looked to me as if Karen was trying to have some fun with that obviously fake dish. I supposed that it was time for me to fulfill my obligations as a partner.

  “You think he’s only going to give us the gilded pheasant? I thought your city was famous for the colloquial southduck?”

  “Is that right? You gonna give us southduck for all our troubles?”

  I was certain Thomas was just playing along, but part of me believed he might really be looking forward to gilded pheasant and the like. Colonel Ray’s forehead reddened slightly, but his response wasn’t as entertaining as I hoped.

  “You’ll do fine with some imported northern salmon.”

  I should have realized he had a sense of humor with how sassy he acted towards us, but I had been hoping for a reaction like what we had seen during Lullvienna. Karen at least looked as if she got her amusement and since she was the one who started it, I decided that was good enough. Silently I made an internal vow to one day turn his face purple in anger.

  We continued our back and forth over fictional delicacies and amenities as we shuffled the interior of the remaining wagon to make room for both the usable food and ourselves. It was going to be a tight fit even after we left the more nonessential supplies. We’d be able to make do for at least a few more days, but we would be in trouble if it took us too long to reach the capital.

  “Well would you look at that. What do you think Douglass, does it suit me?”

  I turned towards Karen in confusion and almost did a double take. Wrapped around her shoulders and neck was a large pale white serpent whose hide glittered like a diamond and large amber eyes weaved back and forth as it watched us with its flickering tongue. A panic welled up in me as I recognized the description it fit as a glitterwhisp. The legends I heard said that it would lead travelers into bodies of water then strangle them beneath the surface. It wouldn’t do any leading wrapped around her as it was, but it was in the perfect spot for strangling. I knew she liked animals, but this degree of a lack of sense was something I haven’t seen from her before.

  “Karen!”

  “What the hell are you doing, keep that thing away from us.”

  Matt flinched and stepped backwards. I almost moved to rush towards her, but hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I might excite the glitterwhisp if I approached carelessly. Besides us two no one else seemed to panic. Thomas looked confused, but the soldiers were perfectly calm.

  “Alright, you can calm down, its not dangerous. And you lass, try not to give your man a heart attack, they’ve got weird ideas about glitterwhisps down south.”

  Aaron spoke up to elucidate our misapprehension over the threat the serpent posed.

  “Is that right? Sorry Douglass, I didn’t realize. Happy to see you worried about me though.”

  She gave me I wink and pushed the glitterwhisp’s head up and down as if it was agreeing with her. It got annoyed and slithered away up to the rest of us while circling around our feet. Even as she kept smiling in the same fashion, she appeared to be a bit disappointed.

  I had been worried. That was normal though, wasn’t it? Regardless of what I thought about someone, I would be worried if they were in real danger. It didn’t mean anything. I didn’t want to delude myself into believing I was changing.

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  The lieutenant picked it up and continued his explanation.

  “The glitterwhisp are scavengers that famously have grown attached to wasted scraps discarded in large cities. The reason you have your legends down south is because of the story of a merchant that was so enthralled by their appearance he walked right into a river and drowned while following after one. As long as you actually pay attention to your surroundings, they won’t lead you to your death. In fact, this little guy is gonna be our ticket to Monderlow.”

  Grinning he kept a hold on the serpent and rushed us to finish packing the wagon and get in.

  From inside the wagon, I couldn’t see that it was the case, but supposedly we were moving so slowly because we were following the glitterwhisp on the assumption it would lead us straight to the capital.

  “Can we really trust this thing? Whose to say it won’t just head back to its den?”

  “Almost all glitterwhisp dens are going to be inside the capital in the first place. They’re only found this far out either when they follow travelers or lay eggs. It’s considered great luck to find one while lost.”

  “Me and my sister have one we take care of in the alley beside our home. They get attached to anyone who feeds them, so a lot of people keep them as pets of sorts.”

  I could see why people would like them. Now that I knew they weren’t dangerous I could concede that they were beautiful creatures, but their jewel-like bodies still creeped me out.

  “Did you give it a name?”

  “Sallizo the third. My sister named it.”

  That was quite the name, and it gave me a strange impression of her sister. All I knew about her at this point was they would supposedly be better off separated and she had the naming sense of a stage magician.

  “Was there a first and second?”

  “Yes, but don’t ask my sister that.”

  Yes, naturally I’d be meeting her soon, wouldn’t I? After all, she lived in the capital and it’s ridiculous to expect I wouldn’t be visiting my lover’s family during my time there. These things slip your mind when your heart is uncommitted. It wouldn’t be much longer until this came to pass as we saw the trees from outside the wagon's canopy thin out into a wide snow covered plain with a clear trail slipping by underneath us. From our vantage we couldn’t see the city approach, but we knew we had arrived when we heard Samson talking to a gate guard concerning our identity.

  We did not approach the palace before we filed out into the unfamiliar streets of Monderlow. Matt kissed the ground and gratefully revered some unknown entity he presumably must have just invented for his deliverance.

  “I’m never leaving again. I’ll live here for the rest of my life.”

  “Didn’t you ride horses back home? Why are you so weak to travel?”

  “I love travel, but not travel through blasted blizzards and frozen dimquar, and I refuse to set a foot outside of civilization until at least next britquar.”

  “You’re forgetting you're already slotted for transfer after we’re done here. Even I understand you’re not gonna be left of the hook for that.”

  “I don’t care! I’ll just be a scrubber in the capital.”

  “Like they need any ya daft bastard. The capital must have scrubbers like a barn has cattle.”

  “Then why are we here?!”

  “That’s a point I can get behind. C’mon Matt, lets tie one over and forget about the whole deal.”

  “Alright, I’m in. Right now, I don’t even care what trouble you’re about to cause.”

  After their back and forth Thomas and Matt sauntered off without giving Colonel Ray time to fill us in on our instructions.

  “Wretched blaggards are more of a headache then their worth. No matter, I’ll hunt them down and drill this into their sodden heads later. Tomorrow afternoon at precisely five. You’ll be expected to be in an audience with the king. Now go ahead and go do whatever the hell you want somewhere I can’t see you. I got you to Monderlow, so my damnable guard duty is over.”

  Without minding his irritation I followed Karen deeper into the city. The roads were red and blue cobblestones with mostly simple geometric designs but occasionally the patterns were used to form simple art such as the country’s insignia. The buildings were packed tighter and grander in both design and size than I had ever seen. I would like to say that they were made of stone, but the wrinkled plaster covering them made me uncertain of the material. At the very least I had a hard time imagining it was wood. I was surprised to pass by wide buildings that had up to four stories, something I imagined was excessive for anything that wasn’t a place or a military fortress or any such similar structure in the way of learning or research. When I asked Karen what they were she told me it could be anything from housing to a business HQ. I couldn’t believe a building that massive could be for a single business, maybe the merchant guild for the whole country, but not a single business. Karen seemed somewhat amused by my wonder, so I tried to play it off as if I wasn’t particularly impressed. That was one fa?ade I’m sure she saw through.

  After a time, we reached a residential area that did not look as alien to me as the rest of the city even if the architecture was more artistic than what would be found in Duskhovel or Vealt. The houses were wooden like back in Duskhovel but had more variety in colors and size. We reached a one story, but noticeably wider light green house and Karen came to a stop in front of it. There were two small front porches to the left and right of the house that each led to a separate door. She walked up to the door on the right and lightly rapped her fist against it. I couldn’t help but notice there was some odd pattern to her knocking. A clatter came from inside as if something had either been dropped or run into. Slowly footsteps approached the door, but their tempo strongly indicated a sense of hesitation before she even opened it.

  “It’s okay Paula, it's me Karen”

  The door slowly opened at her words.

  She had dark brown hair that had the same thread like quality as Karen’s and would almost be identical if it wasn’t for the fact that it was slightly shorter and tied into a bun in the back. Her eyes were a light blue, but closer to dull ice than the piercing blue of the sky. I would also describe her face as doll like if that doll had been left in an attic for many years. She wore a tan dress and knitted pink shawl that appeared homely if somewhat tattered. Most noticeably of all, she didn’t have Karen’s perpetual smile and energy. Far from it.

  She dipped her head low and grabbed her sisters arm moving as if she expected to hide behind her from me. Her eyes nearly trembled as they couldn’t settle on whether to avoid mine or not. She was at most only a few years apart from Karen, but I could have been fooled into believing she was a young child at her parent s heel despite appearances.

  “This lovely lady is my sister Paula. Paula this is Douglass he’s…”

  The cadence of her voice made me think I would be introduced by what I was to her, but her tone shifted as she decided to gloss over that detail for the time being in favor of one more immediately relevant.

  “He’s…not going to hurt you. See?”

  She impulsively took my hand and placed it on her head. It felt like the wrong move to me, but I supposed she understood her sister. She flinched slightly then inched away from both me and Karen acting slightly more docile but no less withdrawn. It was as if after seeing I was less of a threat than she anticipated she became equally uncomfortable around both me and Karen.

  “Is it alight if we come in? I have a lot I need to discuss with you.”

  “O…of course. Let’s…welcome back!...um.”

  She started leading us in as if she had never said anything than started as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

  “Pl…pleasure to meet you. I’m Paula. Paula Plumelied.”

  She gave an awkward curtsy after the words rushed out of her and then she turned back away without acknowledging my presence further as she led us into the Plumelied’s dining room.

  I had more or less expected this to be the case. Karen didn’t explain to me what was wrong with her, but she didn’t need to. It was a story I had seen before, reflected from inside neon puddles.