Windalfr, Right Hand of Vengeance
Chapter Four
Sylphid was profoundly wise, but, like most gods, incomprehensible. Despite her size and her claws, she spoke as a child. Her wings took her over the walls whenever the mood struck her, and she seemed unable to keep a thought in her head for more than a minute, unless it involved food.
"...and mutton and beef and steak and bacon and venison and bacon...did I already say that?"
"You did, yes," San said. She leaned back against a stone wall, enjoying the shade. She had spent her whole life in the forest in the shade, and didn't like exposing herself to the sun all day long. Still, it was better than going inside the human building. The smell alone would kill her.
Sylphid looked down at her. "I'm not supposed to talk to humans," she admitted, as though just remembering that. "Tabitha told me so."
"I'm not human," San explained.
"You're not? You look human." She snaked her head down and sniffed her. "You don't smell human, though."
"I'm a wolf."
"Oh. That makes sense. I've never met a wolf before. I'm I allowed to eat those?"
San froze. Was this a test? "I'd rather you not."
"Aw, but I'm hungry!" There was a hidden message in her words, San knew it. If Sylphid tried to eat her, the dragon's innocence and hunger would not make her teeth hurt less, but she was lost in how she was supposed to apply that to herself.
"Ooh, look!" Sylphid said. "A butterfly! Imma catch it!" She flew off. "Aw, I caught it, now it's dead."
San frowned. Was she pursuing anything that she didn't want to destroy?
"You're giving that dragon a lot more credit than she deserves," Flame said. Flame was a massive red lizard who breathed fire. He walked with his tail raised to not ignite the grass. He was a familiar like Sylphid and, technically, San. "She acts like a child because she is one."
"She's hundreds of years old."
"And never got around to maturity. That won't happen until her fourth century."
"And you're an expert on her kind?" There was some similarity. Sylphid was larger, blue, and had wings, but they both had four legs, a tail, and scales.
"Of course. They have a breeding ground in the mountains where I grew up. Those were fire dragons instead of wind dragons, but they're all pretty much the same."
"Do you ever miss them?" she asked. "Those mountains?"
Flame slapped his tail against the wall like he always did when he felt uncomfortable. "I don't think about it that much. The climate's worse, the company's better. My food doesn't put up as much of a fight any more, and I don't have to worry about, well, anything."
It was the opposite with her. Ever since she arrived, her worries had only compounded. Even when she felt like she was on the right path, she was certain of nothing. "And that's better?"
She asked that mostly to herself, which was just as well because Verdandi stuck his head up out of the ground. He looked at her necklace with his beady black eyes as though that was all he could see. "Shiny?"
"No."
Verdandi was larger than any mole San had met, about three feet long and nearly as wide. He also had an unexplainable fixation on gems, including the crystalline dagger Ashitaka had given her.
He pretended not to hear her and stretched a dirty claw towards her.
"I said, no!" She shoved him backward.
"But it's shiny, and I want it!"
"And it's mine, and I'm not sharing!" It was the only thing she had from Ashitaka, and she'd sooner part with her father's teeth.
Verdandi looked from her to her necklace, comprehension slowly dawning. "Shiny?" Or not.
"I swear," Flame growled. "You have got to be the second dumbest familiar ever, right after that frog that thinks he's a prince."
"But it's shiny!"
"Alright, that's it. I'm going to eat you now."
"No!" Verdandi crawled back into his hole.
"Yeah," Flame said afterward. "When I was talking about the company being better, I was not referring to him."
For San, both the company and the climate were worse. She had left all her friends behind and was always surrounded by humans. And yet, she felt that she needed to be here anyway.
On the other side of the yard, a crowd of humans dispersed. Why they had gathered in the first place, San didn't know, but she had kept her eyes on them, more out of habit than fear that they were a threat. A carriage remained, attached to two creatures that San had never seen before. They looked like horses, but more slender and with coats so fine they seemed to glow. What set them apart was a horn they had in the middle of their heads. It was straight and narrow and spiraled to a tip.
"Hey, Flame," San said. "What are those?"
"Beats me," he said with his characteristic lack of curiosity. "Go ask them if you want to know."
"Maybe I will." She stood up.
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There was great power in a kiss. Princess Henrietta was a figurehead devoid of real power, leaving the control of the kingdom to her advisors. The common people loved her because she had a reputation for kindness, but the more powerful, scrutinizing nobility saw that she lacked the ruthless courage to merit their loyalty. Perhaps one day she would acquire the strength to rule, but, to no fault of her own, she was not her father, and her presence did not demand respect.
She could, however, incite love. She could offer her favor to her subjects, in the form of the chance to kiss her hand. Those who impressed her got the chance to kiss the hand of a princess, and none of them would ever forget it. And since it cost her nothing except for a moment of her time, she offered it to nearly everyone she met.
For a mage, a kiss could also carry a spell. Nobles going to war often received a ward of protection from their loved ones, and mothers often left frightened children with a kiss to calm them through the night.
Most importantly, for Wardes, a simple spell could turn a kiss into a third ear, which was why he went through such pains every day to gain her favor. He had stayed behind to guard her majesty's carriage, and as the princess went about her business with the academy visit, Wardes had listened to every word she said.
He just wished that she would say something important.
"Freedom is such a wonderful thing, Louise Françoise."
"What are you saying? You're the royal princess, are you not?"
"A princess born in her kingdom is like a bird being raised in a cage. You go here and there on your master's every whim."
Wardes rolled his eyes. Princess problems. Well, when the Reconquista came to Tristain and took the throne from her, she'd get real problems, and wouldn't she be happy then!
But honestly, he had no grievance against Princess Henrietta. He could argue that the responsibility to rule an entire kingdom was to great to leave to an accident of birth, but the truth was that Halkeginia was full of petty monarchs content with the small slice of the world that chance had given them, while humanity needed a united front.
And so he listened, just in case she said something that the Reconquista could use, even if it meant eavesdropping on her reminiscences with childhood friends.
But who was the Louise Françoise girl she was talking to? The name rang a bell. He was engaged to a Louise, the youngest daughter of the Valliere family, but the chance that they were the same person...existed, actually. He couldn't remember anything between her first name and her family name, but she had been five or six when they had gotten engaged, and that was ten years ago, putting her at academy age.
He remembered that the child had cried a lot and wasn't skilled with magic, but little else about her stood out. His father had coveted the alliance between their families, and her father had consented to it. No one asked his opinion, but he had worn the mask of the dutiful son, happy to obey his father's whims.
And now...now you wear a different mask.
The princess's conversation had changed to the subject of her marriage and the Reconquista, interrupting his reverie.
"They have been searching frantically for anything that could interfere with the marriage..."
That was true. Wardes had been doing much of the frantic searching himself. Cromwell was a bold and ambitious man, but even he would think twice before assaulting both Tristain and Germania at once. Alone, Tristain would fall in a matter of months, but if Germania defended them, then who would the Reconquista attack? Gallia? Too powerful. Romalia? Too far.
"And they've found something."
He barely noticed as a girl in a wolfskin cloak approached her majesty's unicorns.
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Hunters kept their eyes in front of them so you could look at them eye to eye with both your eyes, but horses and deer kept their eyes on opposite sides of their heads, so even when they were looking at you, they were looking at everything else.
"Hello," San said to the horse-like creatures. "My name is San, Moro's daughter."
"Greetings, San. I am Skuld, a unicorn in the service of Henrietta, Marianne's daughter.
"And I am Urd," the other said.
"Who is Henrietta, that she should command your service?"
"She is a healer," Skuld said. Her voice was as soft and gentle as a mountain stream.
"And a destroyer," Urd said.
"She will save this land."
"Or end it."
"But who are you, San, Moro's daughter, that you should command your own service?" Skuld asked.
"I am the one I trust most," San said.
The unicorns seemed to accept this. Their coats were as white as the moon from her home, but those eyes, it was like looking into the darkness between the stars.
"There is a light in you, Daughter of Wolves, Daughter of Vengeance," Skuld said.
"Like the light of heaven to the righteous dead," Urd said.
"You will not save yourself, nor can you."
"But you might save those who will."
"Hey!" a human said, approaching them. "Back away from her majesty's unicorns, commoner." He had long grey hair and a wide-brimmed hat.
"This one is much like you," Skuld said. "There is a light in him."
"And a darkness," Urd said. "You will destroy each other."
"I'll give you till the count of three to remove yourself," the human said. "Or I'll remove you myself."
"Or save each other," Skuld said.
"One."
"Time will damn," Urd said.
"Or choice, redeem."
"Two."
"Choose, Wolf Daughter."
"Three."
"Choose, Windalfr."
"Air Hammer!"
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Louise exited the main door of the academy to confront her familiar. She had a favor to ask of her.
She had to be the only mage in the history of forever who had to ask her familiar for favors. Or maybe the other mages just never admitted it. That made sense. She never thought that familiars had minds of their own before she met San, but there were probably plenty of mages that had willful familiars, and they just never told anyone.
She scanned the grounds. There were other students out, as well as some members of the royal guard, but San stood out compared to nobles.
She found her sitting on the ground in the shade of the outer wall. The hood of her wolf-skin cloak was up and her mask was down.
That's not a good sign. She usually only wore her mask when she was hunting, and the pointy red ears which would have looked adorable on anyone else made her look even more dangerous.
"Hello, San," she said. "How are you doing?"
"I hate this place," she replied without looking up.
Blunt, as usual. "I know what you mean," she said, forcing a smile. "This place gets on my nerves too after a while. I'm actually planning on leaving tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"
San looked up, her eyes shrouded by the holes in her mask. "Where are you going?"
"Albion. Do you know where that is?"
San shook her head. "Is it far?"
"Yes."
"Sounds good."
"Oh." That was surprisingly easy. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then."
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Henrietta liked Osmond's office. She had spent so much of her time in the palace surrounded by finery, the academic austerity that Osmond surrounded himself with was refreshingly quaint. Pens did not need to be encrusted with gems, and tables did not need doilies. Nothing needed doilies.
"I'm impressed with your work with Fouquet," Henrietta said. "Most people would have sent word to the palace to deal with the thief, but you had the academy handle her itself."
Osmond leaned back in his chair and lit his pipe smugly. "Well, it was an academy problem, so the academy solved it. Besides, I couldn't let Fouquet steal my top conversation piece and get away with it."
Henrietta wasn't sure what role, if any, the old man played in Fouquet's capture, but as headmaster, he shared responsibility for the academy's successes as well as its failings.
She wrinkled her nose at the smell of burnt tobacco. She considered asking him to put out his pipe, but she knew that he would out of respect for her station. She never used her authority when she could help it; it made her feel like more a position than a person.
"I imagine it would have been quite embarrassing if she had escaped," Henrietta said. "Almost as embarrassing as her escaping after only being in custody for a few days."
"Oh, is that what happened?"
Henrietta nodded, smiling ruefully. "She must have had help from someone on the inside, which opens up a whole other set of problems...which aren't yours. You have enough problems of your own without adding mine to the mix."
"True, but I like other people's problems. I can look at them intellectually instead of emotionally. For example, now that we have seen Fouquet's face, you can spread her description around, forcing her to leave the country or risk the wrath of vengeful nobles. She might escape justice, but she'll never bother Tristain again. But when I try to solve my own problems, I hit nothing but dead ends. For example, I need to find an attractive secretary who doesn't mind me smoking, but doesn't smoke herself. I've never found smoking attractive in women, but I can't explain why, and before I know it, I've completely forgotten about the secretary and find myself wondering what effect the Albonian civil war will have on Germanian tobacco shipments."
"Oh." There was little else she could say to respond to ramblings, and scholars rambled more the older they got. "Before we get distracted, I have requested a favor from Louise François de la Valliere, which will cause her to miss school for a few weeks."
"A favor, huh? And a royal one, no less. Confidential?"
"Absolutely." Louise was one of the only people loyal to Henrietta the person, instead of Henrietta the princess.
"Dangerous?"
"There's an element of that, yes."
"And you're asking Louise for this favor?"
"Um..." Growing up, Louise had always had trouble with magic, but Henrietta was sure that her friend had grown out of that. After all, she had helped capture an infamous thief, so she must have mastered a few spells, at least. "I'm also sending Guiche de Gramont."
Osmond blinked. "Oh. Well, he's...sometimes competent. When he focuses. I'm told."
She frowned. "Headmaster, how is Louise doing? Academically, I mean."
"Well, she is currently in her second year, and has managed to cast a total of two spells."
"Oh. Oh, Founder, I've made a terrible mistake."
"Maybe," Osmond said. "Maybe not."
Henrietta looked up. "What spells has she cast?"
He smiled. "Summon Familiar, and Contract Familiar."
"That's it?" While summoning a familiar acted as a rite of passage, was more symbolic than practical. Henrietta still rode her unicorn familiar every now and then, but many mages didn't even do that. And yet, Osmond seemed far too satisfied. "What did she summon?"
"A human."
Her eyes widened. Had that ever been done before? "A mage?"
"A commoner."
Henrietta frowned. Osmond was acting like one of her tutors, one of the more irritating ones that were more interested in showing off their knowledge than sharing it. "What are you not telling me?"
"Something that, for Louise's own safety, must never be mentioned outside this room."
She felt a sudden chill wash over her. What have you been doing, Louise? "You're worried that her enemies will find out?"
"Enemies?" The old man laughed. "I wouldn't trust her allies with what she might be."
Henrietta looked up into Osmond's violet eyes. Behind the mirth, he hid the dread of a man who knew too much and could do too little. "And what is she?"
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San liked mornings, the brisk coolness of the dawn, and the dew on the grass that made the land seem fresh. After hunting for breakfast, she opened the stables and asked Alo if he wanted to go on a journey with her.
"Sure, why not?"
San stroked the white horse's back. "You seem content with whatever happens to you, don't I?"
"Well, why wouldn't I be? If I stay, I get rest, and if I go, I get exercise, and I get fed either way. Why bother worrying about it? Why bother thinking about it?"
"Why bother thinking about anything?" San asked rhetorically.
"Exactly."
"I don't think my mind works that way. I couldn't stop thinking just by choosing not to."
"That's because you're...well, you're not human, but you act like one, sometimes."
San frowned. She wanted to get angry, but Alo meant no offense. She had the body of a human, so anyone who didn't know her would mistake her for one.
"Hey, Alo," she said. "What do you know about unicorns?"
"Unicorns? They're...what do you want to know?" He sounded uncomfortable.
"I spoke with some yesterday. I never told them my mother was a wolf, but they called me Wolf Daughter." And Windalfr, whatever that meant.
"Unicorns are different," Alo said. "The world treats them differently than it does other creatures. They're like birds."
"Birds?"
"Yeah, birds. I can jump, but when I try to fly, I just come back down. Birds can go up and stay up."
"So, you're saying that unicorns can...fly?"
"No, I'm saying that they can do things they shouldn't. They can use their blood or horns to heal. I don't know how it works, I just know that it does, and it shouldn't."
"Do they also know things they shouldn't?"
"Probably. I've heard something about unicorns and the pure in heart, so they'd have to know what your heart it like."
San put her hand to her chest and listened to her pulse. There is a light in you, Daughter of Wolves, the unicorns had said. You will not save yourself, nor can you. The whole conversation had burned with urgency. If only that human hadn't interrupted them! Whenever she was on the verge of something important, a human always came along to screw everything up!
"Good morning, San," Louise said from behind her. "I see you're already packed."
San didn't have anything to pack, but humans were like squirrels with their obsession of collecting and storing acorns...or whatever the human equivalent of acorns was.
She narrowed her eyes at a blonde boy who smelled strongly of mint and pine needles, but far too strongly to be natural. "Who's he?"
"Oh, him," Louise said. "That's Guiche. The Princess said that he has to come with us, so we're stuck with him."
"Is that really how you're going to introduce me?" he said.
"Oh, my apologies, Guiche, let me try again." Louise cleared her throat. "San, this is Guiche de Gramont, a compulsive liar and flamboyant perve. Guiche, this is my familiar, San. She hates humans with a burning passion. I'm sure you'll get along fine."
She climbed up on her horse and sent it galloping. San followed her and Guiche struggled to catch up. "You said we were going somewhere called Albion," San said. "You never said why."
"It's a long story involving revolutions, wars, young love, and blackmail," Louise said, "but the short answer is to prevent a war."
San nodded. Ashitaka would have approved of that sort of thing. "And that one? Guiche?"
"He was eavesdropping when the princess gave me the secret mission, and if we didn't let him tag along, he'd probably start blabbing."
"Hardly," Guiche said from behind. "Her Majesty recognized my charming and debonair nature, and found me worthy of her trust in such a perilous task." Louise rolled her eyes, but Guiche didn't notice. "By the way, as you have decided to bring your familiar along, would you mind if I did the same with mine? The other familiars are jealous of his charm and good looks, so he has trouble making friends, and I hate leaving him alone."
"Your familiar?" Louise asked. "Aren't you the one who summoned that ugly mole?"
"No," he said indignantly. "I'm the one who summoned the charming, beautiful mole."
"Well, sorry, but we're in a hurry, and we don't have time to wait for your charming, beautiful mole to crawl along beside us."
Guiche shook his head. "Louise, Louise, Louise, my familiar is a subterranean marvel, and can easily dig as fast as a horse can trot. Why, he's been keeping up with use since we left the Academy."
"What?"
"I'll show you." Guiche dismounted and stomped on the ground twice. Verdandi, the mole that San sometimes talked to, stuck his head out of the ground, and Guiche embraced him. "See? Oh, Verdandi, you magnificent creature!"
Verdandi blinked his eyes in the sunlight. "Yep, I'm magnifi–shiny!" He broke free of Guiche and scurried over to Louise, latching onto her ankle.
Louise's horse, a speckled gray mare that San didn't know, looked down at the mole and panicked. "Ah! What is that thing? Get it off me, get it off me!" She reared on her hind legs.
Louise fell off the horse and landed flat on her back, and Verdandi crawled on top of her. "Guiche, get your dirty mole off me this instant!"
Guiche frowned. "I don't know. Verdandi usually has a good reason for whatever he does. I'm going to let this play out."
"Verdandi," San said. "Get off the human. She's my friend."
"But she has a shiny!" Verdandi protested. Louise must have had a piece of jewelry with her. "She has a shiny, and I want it!"
"Don't make me hurt you." San got off of Alo's back. "I'll give you until the count of three before I–"
"Air Hammer!"
A gust of wind smashed into Verdandi, knocking him off of Louise and sending him rolling. A creature that seemed like the cross between a bird and a cat but larger than a horse flew down, and a man dismounted from its back.
"I'm off already, I'm off!" Verdandi scrambled to his feet and dug a hole to hide in.
Guiche drew a fake rose and pointed it at the man. "How dare you attack my familiar!"
"My apologies," the man said, helping Louise to her feet. It was a voice San recognized. And a face she recognized. "But I–"
"You!" San snarled, pointing a finger at him.
He frowned. "I'm sorry, have we...oh."
"You."
"Ah."
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a/n Verdandi is technically a girl's name, but the light novel refers to the mole as an it, and the anime as a he. I've been wondering how Wardes managed to find out that Louise was a void mage and get himself sent on the mission to Albion, so I decided to answer that question in this chapter. Magic! Brilliant, I know.
These days, unicorns are often depicted as magic horses with horns, but some of the original myths had them as pretty freaky weird, and don't get me started on the My Little Pony version. (Telekinesis? What myth had telekinetic unicorns?) In Familiar of Zero, they're seldom seen and never do anything that a horse couldn't, so I'll just go with whatever I think fits best. On a side note, Skuld and Urd are the names of Norse Valkyries in charge of the past and the future. The Valkyrie in charge of the present is called Verdandi. Yes, Verdandi. And that's how I know it's a girl's name.
I've been trying to figure out what Windalfr means, and I haven't been able to find anything. Gandalfr translates to "wand elf," and in the light novel meant magic user (Saito was pretty confused when he found out, too.) I'm guessing that either Windalfr means something similar, or the writers made up a word that sounded suitably Norse.
For future reference, I'm assuming that the griffon is just Wardes's mount, not his familiar. I don't know if it was ever described as such, but the griffon never displayed any familiar abilities, and Wardes didn't seem to mind upgrading to a dragon afterwards.
Thank you, everyone who has left a review. You are awesome, every one of you.