“I was not wicked,” I blurted. “Nell was not wicked. You tried to kill us both. And certainly the children of the wicked are not—”
“Well,” Parnassia drawled, “although we are punishers, snatchers, we have a will toward destruction which can be… sometimes whimsical.”
Ispa and Keke tittered behind her.
“At times, we do make mistakes,” Parnassia went on, ignoring them. “Particularly for prizes which draw our eye away from our missions. But in these events, I think you’ll agree that you have benefited from our weakness of will.”
I acquiesced to this point. “Granted. I never would have imagined that a harpy and a fire dragon would share a vision—but then I also never imagined that the ice dragons would destroy The Hearthlands as they have.” I glanced at Mother and then back to Parnassia. Upon the loss of her sister—though they were all sisters, but with no true family allegiance—it seemed that she was given deference by the other two. “We have agreed on a plot to send them from the territory, though it is admittedly rash, and almost as spiteful as it is destructive. We will, when our seer divines that the storms move in our favor, send agents of flame to burn the city, pushing the ice dragons from the castle walls and into the wilderness again. We hope that they will abandon our ruined structures and return to the Obran peninsula, allowing us to rebuild.”
Parnassia, Ispa, and Keke seemed to consider this amongst themselves.
“Destructive, rash, and spiteful, yes,” Parnassia agreed. “It will do little to ensure that the self-appointed rulers of the domain do not return, exactly as you have. Ice dragons are not known for their… emotional maturity. I would not be at all surprised to find the lot of you squabbling over a ruined city for another few years, as occurred on the same land some half a century ago.”
At her words, Ispa cackled. Fire leaped in Mother’s eyes, and her thighs shifted and twitched, as if on the verge of a lunge. I held out my hand to still her before we lost our new—however shady—allies in the fight for our home country.
“Yes, they’ll be back,” Ispa predicted. “Just you wait and see. Give them another twenty years… right after you poor asses rebuild.”
“Forgive me, your majesties,” Parnassia snarled, “but what exactly does this have to do with our revenge? So far, I have heard nothing to relieve my mounting anger with the ice dragons. Their queen! Augh! Have you met their queen?”
“Once or twice,” Mother answered dryly, shifting a glance in my direction.
My cheeks darkened.
“Yes, we know the woman of whom you speak,” I agreed. “She is human—”
“Human!” Keke cried. “Humans are the worst! So much worse than any harpy could ever dream of being. Our madness at least knows reason. Our cruelty knows boundary!”
“My point,” Parnassia went on, “is that your plan does nothing to satisfy our own needs. We must humiliate and deface the frauds and liars of the royal ice court, as they used our services, changed their terms, and dishonorably discarded us.”
“And what do you have to offer by way of manpower, if you’ll forgive the phrase?” I asked her. “What of weaponry? We have precious few men to sacrifice for your wounded ego, Parnassia. Precious few resources to squander in multiple battles.”
“We do not want to fight them,” Ispa snapped. “Fighting is honorable and fair; it is the kind of thing a damned fire dragon would do. We have no interest in honor. We have no interest in fairness. Our only interest is in torment.” My nose curled as her gnarled, withered hands, otherwise useless, petted each other as she spoke, as if this scheming brought her great pleasure. “We have not used the portal in Beggar’s Lake to exact our revenge for over a hundred years. But now… I feel it is time, sisters.”
“Beggar’s Lake,” I murmured.
“Beggar’s Lake houses a unique portal which, due to the force of the vortex atop it, is impossible to escape from,” Ispa went on. “It has become a dimension of torment and loss. Perhaps there exists some creature strong enough to battle up from the whirlpool and back into the world known as Earth, but if such a creature exists, we have yet to see it. Even we would be trapped if we descended into those depths, strong as we are.” She smirked.
“What’s down there?” I asked.
“The ghouls,” Ispa answered with great relish. “The ghouls are down there.”
My eyes bulged. I gulped and nodded.
The realm of the ghouls was almost a fate too horrific to wish upon the soldiers of the ice people. They were ethereal beings, almost fleshless, entirely monstrous. Their blood was as black as pitch, made thick with the entrails and ichor that were their regular diet. They could drive a person mad, and then disappear before your very eyes. I knew of them, of course, but I had somehow never imagined that one of the many portals might lead to their home. I couldn’t even imagine what such a place might look like. And to send living creatures there… just for revenge…