Yperian

Fear and paranoia filled the tent almost as quickly as the snakes on the lamia’s head. That was just one of the things that bothered Yperian, the knight commander of the locally stationed field army and militia.

He was staring up at the golden mask beneath the writhing vipers, feeling himself growing nervous at the sight of them, when he noticed his men standing around in the background, clutching their sword handles in shaky readiness. He judged that he couldn’t have them cut short the fragile peace.

“Leave us,” he sordidly ordered them and looked away from the snakes. “All of you. Do your duties, I’m sure your captains have something for you.”

He turned towards the two newcomers.

“Man, lamia, come closer and sit down. I hear you’ve been brought to me from the Garland. Would you like another drink?”

The pair walked and slithered towards him, barely making a sound as they did so.

“Please,” the man answered, “We weren’t finished yet at the tavern when your men came to get us.”

Yperian filled up two silver chalices and placed them on the wooden desk in front of them before getting one himself and sitting down across from them.

“I apologize for that. You must understand that they were shocked after seeing human beings turn into statues. They must have thought the men of the lake were attacking us again, thus the haste. I’m glad they were wrong. But anyway – I am Yperian, knight commander of this field legion. Talk to me. Who are you, why did you come here and why shouldn’t I have you executed?”

With one hand, he raised the silver chalice towards his lips, and put his other hand on the hilt of his sheathed dagger. The man before him was eyeing him like a piece of meat. He wondered what kind of monster the latter was, to be found accompanying a being as obviously cursed as this lamia.

“Thirteen men and women lost their lives today,” he continued. “And it’s clear you were the cause. You have the Eyes, don’t you, snake? That must be why this happened.”

“You know of my curse?” she asked.

“I’m somewhat well-versed in the old legends. Of course, it’s entirely something else to bear witness to them – but as it turns out, I’m also aware that the effects of a curse may be reversed if its source is killed. “Kill the caster, break the curse,” and all that. It’s possible to save the villagers.”

“Not that way,” the man interrupted. “The Eyes are no lesser knot of black magic. If you kill her, those villagers remain pretty rocks until the end of time. Anyway, my name is Emony, and this is Tiphaine. You know what she is. I’m human.”

The lamia, Tiphaine, turned her jeweled gaze curiously towards the man, but said nothing. It was obvious that his description didn’t match up – and he was probably also lying about the lamia’s legendary curse. Unfortunately, Yperian couldn’t challenge him about it.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said.

The man continued: “We were teleported here by an unreliable, idiotic witch named Lenah. She forgot to mention we would be appearing right in the middle of a village, thus the unfortunate accident. We were told by the barkeep in the tavern that we are in the kingdom of Evaria, though.”

“We’re northeast of the capital, Terrena. You say a witch brought you here? Where from? For what purpose?”

The man took a few careful sips of his wine. Yperian was sure he was trying to see if the drink was poisoned. It wasn’t. He also noticed the man did not let the silver touch his skin, covering it with his sleeve. A peculiar action, one that got him thinking.

“We’ve come from Aeliah. It’s an island a few days sail from the continent, if you believe it exists. We’re here to break a curse, we were told there may be an expert on them somewhere nearby – if we are in the right place, that is.”

“I’ve never heard of Aeliah.”

“But you have heard of curses, clearly. Have you perhaps recently noted anything strange about the water?”

“Actually, yes, now that you mention it. Something has been defiling this place of late. Unnatural powers are stirring in the lake.”

Yperian noticed the man’s pupils expand for a moment, betraying surprise. He downed his chalice quickly.

“Haha. You know, that’s the first promising news I’ve heard all day. Tell me about it.”

“I really don’t see how anyone could describe the situation as “promising”. Rotting corpses are walking out of the lake about two miles from here and attacking people. My field legion was dispatched from Terrena to help the militia protect the locals. This started about two months ago. Could it be the reason you’ve decided to come here?”

“Perhaps,” the man said, provoking another look from the snake.

“So, you mean to help us break the curse that defiles the lake?” he asked. “Is that what I am to believe?”

“We have indeed come to break a curse. Do the dead have some sort of ruler? A mermaid, perhaps?”

Yperian scratched his chin. “Hm… Interesting you mention rulers and mermaids. I’ve received reports of both. The locals mentioned an old legend about this place being home to mermaids. Something about the village not ending on the shore. They say that before the arrival of the men of the lake, they could hear singing every night that seemed to come from the water. Apparently, a mermaid was to blame. Since then, they seem to have ceased, though, and all of the militiamen have been telling me of some “king” terrorizing the place instead, which would be a strange coincidence, except that the last king of Evaria, the late Aulduyen, really did die here.”

The snake sitting beside the man whispered something to him. Upon hearing that, his lips stretched into a tight smile.

“Then we may be in the right place. I believe we can help each other.”

 “Is that so? You seem to be hiding quite a lot. Though honestly, despite your uncommon, mythic nature, I wouldn’t be opposed to cooperation, if we could all benefit from it. But, of course, that can only begin with trust.”

The man exchanged glances with the snake.

“Trust and cooperation are beautiful things. In the name of building them, we’ll correct the mistake my companion made. We’ll unpetrify the villagers.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course,” the lamia said. Yperian hid the sudden rise of nervousness from his face upon glancing again at her coiling hair of serpents. “I just need some—”

“Trade secrets,” the man interrupted. “But we will do it. There is more than one way to break a curse.”

Yperian leaned back in his chair, considering what to say next. He knew far too little about mythics and the dark arts. What if there was a catch? But the curse of the Eyes the lamia possessed was a legend. Only one unfortunate snake in the whole world possessed it at any given time. Who knew if his small force could defeat her in battle? And what the consequences of killing her would really be?

“If you are successful, you will have my gratitude,” he said, opting to gain some more time to plan any potential course of action. “Along with that of many others. What about the witch that brought you here? Should we prepare for any more unexpected arrivals?”

 “I couldn’t tell you,” the man said. “This witch is unpredictable. At any rate, we need to go on an errand. Gather the statues in one place, if you please. We’ll make them breathe again soon.”