[Amari POV]
By the time the engines shifted lower, dawn had started breaking through the small round windows. Pale light came through the cargo bay and turned the metal floor a dull grey, while the north somehow managed to look colder even from the air.
The plane tilted enough for me to see the mountains through the window. They were harsh, tall pieces of broken-backed stone pushing through mist and dark pine, with old patches of snow still sitting near the higher ridges. Between them, a wide stretch of forest reached towards a wall so large that it looked less built than planted there to stop the world.
The Wall of the North crossed the valley from mountain to mountain, thick and pale against the darker ground. Towers rose across it at regular distances, smoke lifted from signal posts, and roads behind it ran into the city pressed against the inner side.
Helbram looked way uglier than I thought a fortress should. The size made sense, though. A fortress built to guard a border against a powerful country was never designed for beauty.
The plane descended towards a military strip behind the city, and soldiers were already moving around the landing ground before we even touched down.
Kitsuna leant closer to the window and looked outside. "Hm."
I did not like that sound. "What?"
"Busy."
"That is bad?"
"It means they are used to being busy."
The plane hit the ground hard enough to make my teeth click, and Kitsuna immediately looked offended.
"You are a shit pilot."
"Sorry, ma'am. The winds are stronger here than I thought."
The plane rolled and slowed before finally stopping near a set of heavy stone hangars built into the lower ground behind the wall. The ramp opened with a mechanical groan, letting cold air rush inside along with the smell of pine, smoke, wet stone, metal oil, and old monster blood.
The last smell was faint, but it was definitely there.
Kitsuna stood and stretched her shoulders. "Lovely. It smells like work."
I tucked the packet inside my coat and got up. "Try not to insult anyone before we meet the count."
"That only happened once, and you weren't even there to see it."
"Kayda told me about it."
"I wasn't in the wrong."
"Sure, Kitsuna."
We walked down the ramp, and the soldiers waiting outside immediately went still.
There were about twenty of them around the landing ground, and none looked like ceremonial guards. They wore dark northern armour with fur-lined collars and carried short rifles and practical blades, while their faces suggested that sleep was more of a rumour than something they regularly experienced.
I stepped off the ramp onto the northern stone, and the cold went through my boots immediately.
Wonderful.
A tall officer approached with two soldiers behind him. He had iron-grey hair shaved close to his head and a scar running from the corner of his jaw down into his collar. His armour carried Helbram's mark, a mountain split by a wall, but his eyes went directly to Kitsuna.
"Captain Kitsuna Draig," he said. "Count Helbram has been expecting you."
I felt irritation rising before I could stop it, while Kitsuna slowly turned her head towards me without saying a word.
She did not need to.
I stepped forward. "Amari Draig. Lead investigator for this mission."
The officer's eyes moved to me far too slowly. It was not rude enough to start a fight, but it was enough to make his point clear.
"Lady Amari," he said.
"Kitsuna is here as field support."
Kitsuna made a small sound behind me, which I ignored.
The officer looked back at her for half a second, so I took another small step forward and brought his attention back to me.
"I have the mission authority and Count Helbram's letter," I said. "You can escort us to him now, unless there is a reason for delay."
The two soldiers behind him stiffened while the officer's jaw shifted once. That was fine with me. The small reaction meant he had finally noticed me properly.
"No need for that," he said. "Count Helbram is waiting in the wallkeep."
Kitsuna leant slightly towards me. "Look at that. You found your scary voice."
I did not turn around. "Do not ruin it."
"I am proud and offended."
The officer pretended not to hear, which told me that at least some northern people were smart. He turned and led us away from the landing ground while the soldiers around the strip went back to working and unloading the supplies we had brought.
We passed rows of supply carts, weapon racks, stacked monster-hide shields, and crates marked for wall towers. Men and women moved around us with tired purpose, wasting little movement and never laughing loudly. A place like this did not seem to forbid humour, but it clearly made people earn it.
Surprisingly, the city inside the fortress didn't look much different from any other market town. The stores were proper shops, but everything had a military edge to it. Their fronts were plain, their lower walls were reinforced, and the roads between them were wide enough for soldiers and supply carts to pass without slowing. Even the buildings looked as though they had been designed to keep working during a siege.
Surprisingly, because the walls weren't that tall, I could see tree tops past the northern wall in the distance.
Kitsuna walked beside me now and allowed me to stay slightly ahead. The officer noticed what she was doing, and so did the soldiers we passed.
We crossed a stone bridge over a dry channel and entered the inner military district near the wall keep. Calling the keep a castle would have been generous. It was a block of stone with windows too narrow to be friendly and doors thick enough to survive someone's terrible morning, while the Helbram banner hung above the entrance in dark blue and grey.
Two guards opened the doors before we reached them.
Inside, the air smelled like wax, cold metal, and damp wool. The halls were wide enough for soldiers in armour to pass each other without slowing, and maps covered the walls. None were decorative. They were covered in pins, scratch marks, patrol notes, and old stains near the corners left by too many hands using them.
We followed the officer through two halls, climbed one set of stairs, and passed through a guarded doorway into a larger chamber facing the wall.
This was clearly where Helbram worked. It was a command room, with a long table filling the centre and maps of the outer forest spread across it beneath knives, stones, and sealed markers. One wall held a rough board covered in scout names, some marked with red slashes while others had no marks beside them at all.
Those were the missing ones.
Count Leroy Helbram stood at the far end of the table. He was older than I expected, but there was nothing soft about him. He had broad shoulders, a weathered face, dark hair going grey at the sides, and eyes that looked like they had learned to distrust good news. His coat was plain for a count, heavy and dark, with the same mountain-and-wall mark fixed at the clasp.
Two officers stood near him. A woman with short black hair, a narrow face, and the stillness of a soldier accustomed to observing everything stood first. One hand rested near the sword at her belt as her eyes moved over us.
The second was a large man with a shaved head, a thick beard, and a scar across his nose. Fresh scratches covered the shoulder plate of his armour.
The officer escorting us stopped. "Count Helbram, these are Lady Amari Draig and Captain Kitsuna Draig."
Leroy Helbram looked at Kitsuna first and then at me, so I stepped forward before he could make the wrong choice.
"Count Helbram," I said. "Amari Draig. Lead investigator under Draig's authority."
I held out the sealed letter, and his eyes stayed on mine for a moment before he took it. Kitsuna remained half a step behind me and was quiet for once, which was probably terrifying on purpose.
Leroy broke the seal and read the first part of the letter without speaking while the room stayed still around us. Once he had read enough, he folded it once and set it on the table.
"Lady Amari," he said. "Welcome to Helbram."
His voice was rough, tired, and controlled, but then his eyes shifted to Kitsuna.
"Captain Kitsuna."
Kitsuna smiled slightly. "Count."
The woman officer's gaze sharpened while the large man's jaw tightened. Leroy noticed both reactions and ignored them.
"These are my closest officers," he said. "Commander Vale. Captain Ormond."
The woman gave one small nod, and the large man offered a shorter one.
I returned the greeting without lowering my eyes. "Commander. Captain."
Vale watched me carefully while Ormond kept watching Kitsuna, which I could already tell was going to become annoying. That man seemed to hate her before she even said anything. How can she do that?
'Guess Kayda might have been wrong about it being Kitsuna's fault.' I thought, looking at Oren with narrowed eyes.
Leroy placed one hand on the map table. "You came quickly."
I looked at the red marks spread across the outer forest map. "Your request sounded like it should not wait."