In comparison to the Coldeye queendom, the lands held by the Ironclaw clan were relatively small. On a map, it looked rather impressive given the massive mountain range that took up a good sixty percent of the land mass, but that was largely uninhabitable due to the rough terrain.
From what Valda had told me, most of the larger towns and villages were nestled into the handful of secure valleys in those mountains that opened out into the plains, usually situated on the great mines that were how the Ironclaw clan supported itself.
Apparently, the Ironclaw mined, refined, and worked most of the raw iron, copper, tin, lead, bronze, and silver that was used in the Coldeye queendom, the Duchy of Sarbor to the north-west, and the further north queendom known as the Glass Stars. With that metalwork and ore, they traded for all the other necessities that they weren’t able to produce locally. Everything from crops, to cloth and spices.
The road that we followed led us on a winding path that took barely a day's travel before it reached those mountainous foothills and up into the passes. The jagged peaks that the clan took its name from were imposing, iron-gray claws rising to the sky with at least the upper third of each mountain draped in snow and ice despite the fact that it was coming in on summer for Cortha.
The difference in seasons between Earth and Cortha wasn’t too hard to keep track of in my mind, but my body was something entirely different. The chill settling in back home helped ensure that I was more than capable of handling the cooler mountain air as the road forked multiple times.
Each time the road split, Valda would explain to our group and anyone else who was listening what lay along the other fork. The other two major passes were some of the first splits, but after that they led to small towns, mining enclaves, and even one that headed to the capital of the territory.
It took another day after reaching the mountains to follow the road up and into the pass until we reached the small town and fort that blocked the pass off. And it was quite an interesting sight to see.
While we’d been traveling about the Coldeye queendom, I’d seen a fair bit of architecture and learned that a good majority of the Coldeye queendom followed a more classical European style of structure building. Stone brick coated with a layer of whitewash to seal it, with wooden upper floors and clay roofs mostly. But the Ironclaw clan followed a far different building plan, one that honestly endeared them to me quite a bit.
Many of the buildings were built sunk into the ground by half or more of their total height, for one. And for two, the upper floors were made of stone as well, with thick slate tiles overlapping to create both fireproof roofs and a solid barrier against winter snows. Wood was used for some decorations outside the houses, but according to Valda, most of it was kept inside the house to help warm and soften the interiors.
There was also a great number of carved stone decorations even for a fort, with statues and carved stone fences dividing houses and roads, carved stone lanterns for light during the summer that had fittings to mount large metal-grate braziers on the top during the winter to do the same but stay out of the snow.
The fort, too, was a testament to the hardy nature of these people, with the road leading up to the village cutting straight through to a massive pair of gates set into a wall that partially encircled the pass. The wall itself was dozens of feet high and made of the same dark stone as the rest of the village, with a flat top and raised crenelations to protect those on watch. A broad road ran along the base of the wall, connecting two squat towers that rose above the wall on either side to the gate.
Water was supplied to the town by a mountain lake that took up a third of the little valley, with the village and a few scattered flocks using the rest of the open ground. All told, the population of the little mountain town was probably a match for the number of soldiers garrisoned in the two towers and the long bunkhouses set near the gates as well.
Much like the harsh terrain studded with hearty highlands grass and squat rock-cacti, the people were equally sturdy.
Valda’s species—an offshoot lizard-folk that was distinctly different from the kin, which were the part-animal folk like Rieka and Jane—made up easily eighty-percent of the population of the little mountain town. Their scales varied in shades of green, brown, orange, and red depending on their particular subspecies. Other than the lizard-folk, the rest of the village’s population was almost exclusively wolf kin, with a bare sprinkling of dwarves tossed into the mix.
“All right everyone,” Valda called as the wagon train wound past her and into the large stable-yard outside the barred gates. “Hop down and grab your things. We are going to have the students bunking in the same building to make it easy to find you all. Once we get you settled in, we can set up the plans for watch rotations and the day classes. This is going to be your opportunity to really let loose with your magic to practice it if you need, but don’t be wasting mana!”
“What about the inns?” called one of the other students, a wolf kin like Rieka in an outfit of mixed silks and velvet that did not look appropriate for travel but he’d apparently insisted on wearing regardless. “Surely there are rooms we can take there? Private rooms.”
“If you wish to pay out of your own pocket to rent rooms at the inn, you are welcome to. But Juneau and Queen Coldeye will not be paying for them, and you will be responsible for ensuring you make your appointed patrols and shifts,” Valda answered crisply, staring down at the overdressed wolf man with a stony expression.
I studied the wolf kin man silently as he reddened and clearly started to work himself up into a protest. Something about the overdressed young man looked familiar to me, but I was struggling to place him.
“That is rid—” the young nobleman began to protest, but it was Rieka who cut him off this time, her words sharp as the princess stepped up next to Valda.
“That is just how it is, Earl Gregor. We are here as a detached force to learn about the art of fighting in battles with soldiers under our protection. Or did you forget that?”
“What is there to learn out here? How best to keep sheep from eating something poisonous?” snapped Gregor, though the young man appeared to be less willing to argue with Rieka than he had been with Valda.
“Many things, Gregor. One of which will be that you will follow lawful orders given by your commander, or you will face the consequences,” drawled another familiar voice as Lady Maia—one of the instructors from Juneau who oversaw Rue House—stepped out from the front door of the bunkhouse that Valda had indicated.
The elder elven woman was wearing a close-fitting wool dress in a dark blue, her severe features made even more stark by the tight bun her hair was in that kept it back and off her pointed ears.
“Don’t make an ass out of yourself, Gregor,” grunted the man right behind her as another wolf kin man strode out that I definitely remembered, and which triggered my memory of who the hell Gregor was.
The last time I’d seen Lord Willem had been during the end-of-term summoning competition, and I remembered him protesting my inclusion in those fights as a hoax until he’d been roundly stomped on to stop the arguments. And Gregor was one of the students that I’d fought and beaten during the early rounds of the competition.
Huh, I guess that Juneau sent along some instructors to keep an eye on the students then? I thought, making it a point of stepping up to stand behind Rieka and Valda, who were still squared off with Gregor.
Apparently, both Gregor and Willem recognized me as well, as both wolf kin’s ears laid back when they spotted me, with Gregor growling audibly until Willem thumped him on the shoulder with one large hand.
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“Now, as you were saying, Lady Valda?” Maia said with a stern sniff of annoyance towards Gregor.
“Collect your things. If you wish to take rooms at the inn, that is your own cost. The Ironclaw clan has reserved a bunkhouse for the students with food and firewood included. If you want to go to the public houses to eat, that is your choice as well,” Valda said firmly, dragging her sharp gaze over the other students for a moment, nodding to the two instructors with more respect, before she clapped her hands together sharply to get them moving.
There was a flurry of movement that followed, as the students who had been letting the wagons roll past scampered to get their things. Most people couldn’t afford the dimensional bags like the girls had, so many were unloading trunks, traveling bags, and the like from the wagon with those in it.
“And before you ask, Gregor,” Maia said sharply, drawing my attention back to the stern older woman, “no, there are no servants in the bunkhouses beyond the handful who handle the kitchen and tidying up a bit. If you want evening tea, a midnight snack, or an errand run, you’ll have to handle that yourself.”
“How stuck up can one person get,” I muttered to myself.
I saw Rieka’s ears flick and her tail start to wag, telling me that my princess had caught my words. Valda didn’t move, though the flick of her eyes towards me telegraphed that she had heard as well too.
“All too easily,” Kassandra piped up from behind me, and I turned to find my little snuggle noodle waiting with a smile and her bag over one shoulder, a thick cloak covering her shoulders to ward off the chillier mountain air.
“We are going to have to be more careful with you out here,” I said firmly, reaching down to cup one cheek that was reddening in the cool air. “A cold blooded lamia like you is going to have a far harder time with this, especially when the sun goes down.”
“I will be taking that into account when I draw up the schedules,” Valda said firmly. “As this is also training for me as a commander, I will be keeping track of such things and ensuring that nothing goes awry for the people under my care.”
“I would expect nothing less of you, Valda,” I said over my shoulder to her with a smile and a wink. “I was meaning more of our group in general, though. Kassandra is going to need to be kept warm during the cold nights, even if she’s not on duty, and she’s going to be more sluggish in general.”
“I’ll be fine,” Kassandra grumbled, though I felt the soft sensation of her lips on my wrist when she kissed it a moment later. “Thank you for thinking of me.”
“Hard not to think of you, especially when clothes aren’t involved,” I said in a husky whisper when I turned back to Kassandra, which got me a lusty smile from the curvy snake woman.
The bunkhouse was like the other buildings in the village, built into the ground and almost entirely of stone on the outside. Descending a series of stairs was a bit of a challenge for Kassandra, but not anything that my lamia lover wasn’t used to. A small mud-room gave space for one to clean their shoes and boots off before opening into a large common area.
Valda was quick to explain that there was one of these on either end of the building, and a large fireplace was set in the middle of the room to warm it. Amber-tinged light streamed in through the horn-pane windows set high up in the walls so they would be above ground, giving enough illumination for now to navigate by, though I spotted tin lanterns hanging from hooks as well for after the sun fell behind the mountains.
The floor in here was also stone, thick slabs of it polished by years of passing footsteps. Thick, sturdy rugs and tanned hides padded and softened the spaces by the collections of chairs, while long solid tables ran in twin rows down the center of the space, clearly for meals.
“Bunk rooms are in the center of the building,” Valda explained with a gesture to the doors set in the far wall. “Bathing rooms are in the middle of the building and share a wall with the kitchen to double up the use of the fireplaces there to help heat it. The bunk rooms have space for six in them.”
“You are to bunk with your group if you have one, otherwise find a spot,” Maia interjected when the students started to hurry towards the rooms in hopes of claiming the best spots. “If I find one of you trying to dominate one of the rooms to keep to yourself, then you’ll be on your own without a room at all.”
The harsh words of the elven woman made most of the students hesitate, but several just nodded and kept moving.
“I’ll get you all a room,” I said quickly to my girls, glancing towards Valda with a questioning look. “Do you have your own space or do you want to bunk with us since we are expected to share? The girls only need four of the six beds.”
I didn’t say out loud that I’d be sharing with one of the girls if I stayed, but I definitely hoped to. It would suck to have to sleep on the cold stone floor, but I could deal with it by packing some lightweight camping supplies next time I swung by Earth.
That and I don’t want to assume the girls are comfortable exposing just how deep our relationship is to a stranger, even as nice a stranger as Valda, I thought silently.
Valda studied me for a moment before glancing at Rieka questioningly.
“He really is offering, and I don’t think any of us would have a problem if you did want to,” Rieka was quick to answer, apparently seeing the question in Valda’s expression.
“Then I will take you up on that offer, Liam. I was planning to insert myself into one of the rooms that had a spare spot anyway. It might as well be your group’s,” Valda said quickly, so I hurried off.
The door I chose off the main room opened into a central corridor that had rooms on the left side while the right was taken up by the promised bathing room and what I guessed was the kitchen that had been mentioned.
I bypassed the first three doors, as those already had someone standing in them by that point, and pushed through a group that was arguing over the fourth room. It seemed that most of the students wanted a room convenient to the bathing room, but I didn’t care so much. The kitchens would have their hearths running through the day and most of the night too, so picking a room by them would help keep Kassandra warmer. All my girls had that unfortunate habit of women to be oddly cold at all times, but for my snuggle-spaghetti it was even worse.
The room I found had three sets of bunk beds, each one just under queen in size. One set of bunks was on each wall and a single set in the center, with narrow tables and chairs in between each set of beds. The space was maybe twenty feet long and ten deep, with a low brazier against the wall for heat and several rugs to warm the stone floor.
“Move,” snapped a haughty voice behind me as I studied the room and I turned to glare back at the speaker.
Gregor’s ears immediately pinned back against his skull when I met his eyes from only inches away, but the wolf kin man held his ground as he tried to force his way past me with three others in tow.
“This room is already claimed, five out of six beds are filled,” I said blandly as I stared down at the overly entitled nobleman from my far greater height.
Guess he decided not to get a room at the inn, maybe he didn’t want to pay for his lackey’s? I thought grimly as Gregor sputtered and protested, but was seemingly unwilling to just shove me out of the way. Which was good, because I would have taken that as an actual attack and responded in kind.
“Let’s just keep going down the hall, Gregor,” insisted one of his companions, another wolf kin. “The longer we wait, the more likely someone else will come along to snatch up the other rooms!”
Gregor spat out a growl, but allowed himself to be ‘dragged’ away, like a dog that would only act mean when someone had its leash to hold it back. I just rolled my eyes and leaned against the door jamb to wait for the girls to make their way back to me.
I spotted Shayla first, my beautiful moth woman standing out against the others because her antennae floated over her head and the colorful tips of her wings showing above the crowd of heads in the hallway as well.
Waving, I got Shayla’s attention, and her antennae did this adorable little happy wiggle when she spotted me, the fluffy ends curling faintly before relaxing again as she made her way past the group still arguing over one of the other rooms.
Jane followed along right behind Shayla, letting the much larger woman break the crowd for her, with Rieka coming next, then Valda, and finally Kassandra, her long tail cluttering up the hallway but she nimbly avoided being a tripping hazard.
“Did you really need to rush ahead like that?” Shayla asked curiously as I stepped out into the hall to let her through. The smile curving her lips told me that my artist wasn’t angry or upset in any way, just curious.
“Given that I didn’t want our group to risk being broken up, which would have made it harder looking after you all? Yeah, I did,” I answered, blowing her a kiss that made Shayla blush faintly as she moved into the room.
Despite being a building built into the ground, there was plenty of space in the halls for people to pass by going either direction, as long as they weren't standing and arguing in the corridor that was. So I had space to stand at the moment since no one was coming on the other half of the hallway as the girls filed past me.
“We are just going to drop our things off and then head back to the main room,” Rieka explained as she walked past, her pointed wolf ears twitching while she smiled up at me. “I want to help Valda figure out the rotations, since the scheduling knowledge might come in handy later on.”
“Makes sense,” I replied as she proceeded past. “Never know what sort of situation you might end up in, and you could end up having to assist that sister of your’s in the army, right?”
“My thoughts exactly!” Rieka called over her shoulder before turning to discuss with Shayla over who would get which bunks.
“Think we can push two of the bunks to one side and tie the legs together?” Kassandra suggested as she wiggled past, her eyebrows bobbing teasingly as she went.
“Do you need two? They are pretty large beds…” I asked while my mind raced to think of why she would ask that.
Kassandra’s salacious grin and wink, along with the twitch of her full hips, told me exactly why she thought she needed a larger bed space, and I didn’t plan to argue.
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