The days grow short and the nights drag on. Candlelight drips from every window while snow falls silent and steady. Winter's grasp, skeletal and constrictive, has ensnared Castle Drake. However...
So has a festive sense of cheer! For Christmas draws near! And yet...
Under the cover of darkness an insatiable thief, the colossal Queen of Thieves no less, prowls the conquered keep. No doubt possessed by the Spirit of Taking she wields her terrible talents for who knows what ends!
Oh hey look at that it's time to revisit Kovania. Think of this as a sort of sequel to In Broad Daylight should you like.
Incredible art, as always, comes courtesy of T-Bone!
Snow, silent and heavy, blanketed Castle Drake's empty ramparts as lonely braziers defiantly crackled atop the corner towers. Streaks of light, faint yet warm, danced atop the monster infested moat long since frozen solid.
CRSH
KRKK
The crunch of compacting snow, rhythmic and to the tune of someone's heavy gait, struggled to be heard over the gentle whistling of the wind.
KRSH
KRKK
Candlelight dripped through the frost caked windows of the structures lining Castle Drake's cobblestone streets. As a bitter gust washed over the parapets, visibility dropping to near nothing, a massive and menacing silhouette flickered in and out of focus.
CRNCH
KRKK
A heavy flapping, akin to that of a raised sail luffing wildly in the wind, whipped through the claustrophobic alleyways.
CRSH
KRKK
Eyes half lidded, and her scarred mug curled up into a self-satisfied grin, Kovania tossed back her hood. With measured swings of her legs the colossal Queen of Thieves confidently carried herself through the conquered keep. Her footfalls, their titanic thooms muffled and swallowed up by the snow, failed to be felt much less heard.
KRKK
Fog, thick and cloying, trailed past her nostrils and from between her lips with every breath she drew. Eyes pressed against the sides of their sockets Kovania casually eyed the waist high barracks, taverns, and inns lining the walled compound's narrow streets. With nary a sound she surveyed her base of operations.
CRNCH
Clearing her throat with an ahemhem, her every exhale powerful enough to shake sheets of snow free from the sloping roofs surrounding her, the tremendous thief exaggeratedly rolled her shoulders.
“I heard ya, I heard ya!” squeaked her unseen accomplice.
Flashing a toothy grin, Kovania tightened her grip on the stitched together sack slung over her shoulder. Wagon covers, bundles of burlap, abandoned awnings, and hand-me-down hammocks... it took everything and anything available to cobble together a grab bag for someone her size. “Well?” she boomed.
The crinkle of paper, and the creak of a lantern swinging along its rusted hinges, registered in Kovania's ears. Perched atop her shoulder, bunched up among the fields of feathers and fur serving as the Queen's cloak, sat a possum. Free hand held out before her, and eyes squinting, Agnes let her jaw hang slack as her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth. “I... You... Your Majesty? If I may?”
FWOOM
Agnes pulled her lips flat as a gale of heated air, courtesy of Kovania's flared nostrils, billowed past her. Hair blown back and matted with melted snow, the possum's frazzled from slowly flash froze while her light armor's pauldrons popped out of place and icicles came to cling to her whiskers. “Queen-”
WHOOM
A muffled shout escaped the possum's lips when Kovania ran her free hand through her mohawk. Sheets of snow tumbled off the hyena's skull and buried her shoulder suckup in a pile of frigid flakes.
Shivering violently, her teeth grinding away with how furiously they chattered together, Agnes shook and slaked off what snow she could. “...K-k-kovania?”
“Hum?” the Queen of Thieves finally deigned to answer once all formalities and titles had been cast aside.
“Would you... could you run this by me again?” Agnes asked. Swallowing down a startled yelp, visible plumes of steam burned off the possum when Kovania bunched her close to her neck for warmth. “What exactly are we doing here?” Agnes shyly mumbled.
“What's it look like?” Kovania nonchalantly replied.
Arms tucked against her chest, and shoulders bunched together, Agnes thoughtfully hummed as she rubbed her cheek against the Queen's broad neck. “It looks liiiiiike...”
“Mmhmm?”
“We're...”
“Go on.”
The possum sheepishly scritched at the back of her neck before offering up a shrug. “...Sure looks like, and feels like, we're spreading holiday cheer.” Agnes anxiously wrung her hands. “Spirit of giving and all that?”
Kovania dismissively snorted and rolled her eyes. “We're not here to give, Agnes. We're here to grease the skids.”
“...Greasing the skids?” asked Agnes. “For what?”
Free hand tossed out to her side, Kovania dismissively gestured to herself. To the heavy cloak, fit for royalty, draped from her back. To the water tight and lovingly crafted boots, clinging comfortably to her feet, that could stomp wagons flat. To the gloves wrapped around her wrists, snow compacting within the ditch sized wrinkles along her palms, that could swallow up armored cavalry with room to spare.
“Ah.”
The hyena flashed a half-cocked smile as she brushed at the lavish attire, scaled to her impossible size, that was worth well beyond its weight in gold. “As you know it takes a lotta work to clothe, much less house, someone of my standing and stature.” Eyes half-lidded, Kovania narrowed her gaze. “Speaking of work... you're slacking.”
“S-s-sorry! Sorry!” Agnes fumbled. Smoothing out the crinkles pocking her waterlogged parchment the possum smacked her lips. “Right now we are looking at the...” Biting down into her lower lip, Agnes squinted until her eyes practically pinched shut. “Servant's Quarters.”
Reaching into the mouth of the stitched together sack slung over her shoulder, Kovania produced a treasure trove of delights. Casks of wine; Noble wardrobes; Vases full of the finest fruit sealed shut in honey. Everything a servant would be expected to prepare but never to partake in.
Rolling her haul about her palm, Kovania dropped to a crouch. With the back of her hand she effortlessly flicked open a darkened window. Before a back draft, much less a single flake of snow, could rush inside Queen of Thieves had already reverse pickpocketed her haul and sealed the window back shut.
“So we're... rewarding them? For jobs well done?” Agnes inquired.
Kovania let slip a disgusted groan as she rose to her feet. “These ain't rewards. They're due compensation.”
Skulking past a set of barracks, its stained glass windows gone dark, the hyena wordlessly thumbed another serving of stolen goods down its chimney. Plumes of aromatic smoke billowed forth as salt slaked meats quietly simmered at the fireplace's base. “Thieves don't, yanno, stay thick as such unless it's worth their while.” Brows arched, Kovania shifted in place and looked back behind her. The sight of the snow swallowing up her steps filled her breast with pride. How long had it been since she had been able to pass without a trace?
“I take, and I take, and I take, and I take...” Kovania mused aloud while the wind whistled past. “And let's be honest with ourselves there ain't anyone or anything stopping me from taking some more.”
Agnes, her head held low, tucked her chin against her chest and knocked her knees together at the shameless show of power.
“That said...” Kovania mulled aloud as she emptied another bevvy of bribes into her palm. Chests, nigh overflowing with gem encrusted jewelry, rattled around her grasp. “Fear only gets you so far.” With a dismissive shrug the Queen of Thieves deposited her priceless bounty atop the snow drifts that had all but buried a bakery.
Bashfully wiggling side to side, her tail curled around her waist, Agnes stifled a dreamy sigh. “Queen Kovania-”
“Stop. That,” Kovania curtly commanded of her loyalest, and littlest, crony.
“R-r-right! Umm.” Fidgeting in place, Agnes sheepishly turned her gaze towards those window sized eyes that bore into her very soul. “Forgive me for saying so but this still strikes me less as self-serving and more... selfless.”
Lips wavering, Kovania stifled a raspberry. “Pshhhhhh. It's anything but!” The towering thief produced a crumpled handful of sequined gowns, gloves, and vests. “You tell me. The hell am I supposed to do with this gaudy garbage?”
Agnes stammered. “...Iunno! Sell them? Trade them?”
A low, and uncertain, growl reverberated within Kovania's throat. “Ehhhhh. Ain't all too many folks out there with the coin and the wares to shill out for what these are worth. I mean I could try and ransom them right back to the suckers I stole 'em from...” Stomping by Castle Drake's chapel, its ice crusted bell tower refusing to toll, the colossal Queen propped up the roof of the nearby nunnery. With a flick of her wrist she chucked the sinfully expensive attire inside. “But I already saw to it they don't have anything left to buy them with,” she cackled.
The possum couldn't help but giggle. “So I take it that's your roundabout way of saying they're not your style?”
“Much less my size,” snarked the hyena.
Parchment in hand, Agnes dutifully read out the remainder of their deliveries as she snuck not so subtle longing looks at the looming and lovely Queen of Thieves. In between each and every drop off ever dreamier sighs tumbled out from the possum's lips while her tail bashfully flopped to and fro. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Ever since that day, when Kovania had reduced King Drake to but a feckless figurehead, life within his namesake's keep had improved immeasurably.
KRSKK
That the hyena bothered to share anything at all with them was... benevolent beyond measure. A dopey smile spread wide across Agnes' mug as she took to tapping her fingers together. “I know you insist it's anything but... but... I think this, all of this, is awfully kind of you.”
Tossing her head side to side, Kovania carefully navigated the narrow streets. Her towering silhouette flit in and out of view among the snow squalls. “If you haven't noticed by now, Agnes, all this 'charity' of mine comes with an unspoken catch.”
“...It does?”
Kovania solemnly nodded. “Tithes, taxes, tributes. Whatever it is you wanna call my lip service... I will come collecting.” A devilish glint flared to life within the hyena's copper colored eyes. “These gifts are just a gentle reminder that no matter who you are, no matter where you are, I can and will find you. No one is beyond my reach.” Reaching into her sack once more, Kovania produced a crown and delicately planted it into Agnes' lap. “You'd do well to remember that.”
She shuddered at its offering and all the implications that weighed heavily upon her. With a nervous laugh the possum adorned what was once King Drake's crown. Running her hand along the its pompous curves, Agnes gasped when her fingers traced and twiddled against silky soft strips of cloth tied into bows. The decorative embellishments, white as the snow raining down on them, seamlessly blended into the environment.
“D-d-don't pay the ribbons much mind. They're umm... they're uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...” Cheeks puffed out, Kovania tucked her tail between her legs.
The possum bashfully twirled the bows around her fingers as she stuttered. “It's... You're...” Tonking her head against her colossal Queen's neck, Agnes hugged what she could of the hyena in heartfelt thanks.
“I like to put effort into my bribes is all!” Kovania blurted back as a searing blush came to crease her visage. “Nothin' more!”
Enthusiastically nuzzling into her colossal Queen, Agnes refused to entertain her excuses. “Thank you, Kovania. For the gifts, for your company, for... for...”
“Yeah yeah yeah...” mumbled the hyena. Tugging up her hood, Kovania tenderly sheltered the possum from the incessant snowfall. “Merry Christmas to you too.”
So has a festive sense of cheer! For Christmas draws near! And yet...
Under the cover of darkness an insatiable thief, the colossal Queen of Thieves no less, prowls the conquered keep. No doubt possessed by the Spirit of Taking she wields her terrible talents for who knows what ends!
Oh hey look at that it's time to revisit Kovania. Think of this as a sort of sequel to In Broad Daylight should you like.
Incredible art, as always, comes courtesy of T-Bone!
Snow, silent and heavy, blanketed Castle Drake's empty ramparts as lonely braziers defiantly crackled atop the corner towers. Streaks of light, faint yet warm, danced atop the monster infested moat long since frozen solid.
CRSH
KRKK
The crunch of compacting snow, rhythmic and to the tune of someone's heavy gait, struggled to be heard over the gentle whistling of the wind.
KRSH
KRKK
Candlelight dripped through the frost caked windows of the structures lining Castle Drake's cobblestone streets. As a bitter gust washed over the parapets, visibility dropping to near nothing, a massive and menacing silhouette flickered in and out of focus.
CRNCH
KRKK
A heavy flapping, akin to that of a raised sail luffing wildly in the wind, whipped through the claustrophobic alleyways.
CRSH
KRKK
Eyes half lidded, and her scarred mug curled up into a self-satisfied grin, Kovania tossed back her hood. With measured swings of her legs the colossal Queen of Thieves confidently carried herself through the conquered keep. Her footfalls, their titanic thooms muffled and swallowed up by the snow, failed to be felt much less heard.
KRKK
Fog, thick and cloying, trailed past her nostrils and from between her lips with every breath she drew. Eyes pressed against the sides of their sockets Kovania casually eyed the waist high barracks, taverns, and inns lining the walled compound's narrow streets. With nary a sound she surveyed her base of operations.
CRNCH
Clearing her throat with an ahemhem, her every exhale powerful enough to shake sheets of snow free from the sloping roofs surrounding her, the tremendous thief exaggeratedly rolled her shoulders.
“I heard ya, I heard ya!” squeaked her unseen accomplice.
Flashing a toothy grin, Kovania tightened her grip on the stitched together sack slung over her shoulder. Wagon covers, bundles of burlap, abandoned awnings, and hand-me-down hammocks... it took everything and anything available to cobble together a grab bag for someone her size. “Well?” she boomed.
The crinkle of paper, and the creak of a lantern swinging along its rusted hinges, registered in Kovania's ears. Perched atop her shoulder, bunched up among the fields of feathers and fur serving as the Queen's cloak, sat a possum. Free hand held out before her, and eyes squinting, Agnes let her jaw hang slack as her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth. “I... You... Your Majesty? If I may?”
FWOOM
Agnes pulled her lips flat as a gale of heated air, courtesy of Kovania's flared nostrils, billowed past her. Hair blown back and matted with melted snow, the possum's frazzled from slowly flash froze while her light armor's pauldrons popped out of place and icicles came to cling to her whiskers. “Queen-”
WHOOM
A muffled shout escaped the possum's lips when Kovania ran her free hand through her mohawk. Sheets of snow tumbled off the hyena's skull and buried her shoulder suckup in a pile of frigid flakes.
Shivering violently, her teeth grinding away with how furiously they chattered together, Agnes shook and slaked off what snow she could. “...K-k-kovania?”
“Hum?” the Queen of Thieves finally deigned to answer once all formalities and titles had been cast aside.
“Would you... could you run this by me again?” Agnes asked. Swallowing down a startled yelp, visible plumes of steam burned off the possum when Kovania bunched her close to her neck for warmth. “What exactly are we doing here?” Agnes shyly mumbled.
“What's it look like?” Kovania nonchalantly replied.
Arms tucked against her chest, and shoulders bunched together, Agnes thoughtfully hummed as she rubbed her cheek against the Queen's broad neck. “It looks liiiiiike...”
“Mmhmm?”
“We're...”
“Go on.”
The possum sheepishly scritched at the back of her neck before offering up a shrug. “...Sure looks like, and feels like, we're spreading holiday cheer.” Agnes anxiously wrung her hands. “Spirit of giving and all that?”
Kovania dismissively snorted and rolled her eyes. “We're not here to give, Agnes. We're here to grease the skids.”
“...Greasing the skids?” asked Agnes. “For what?”
Free hand tossed out to her side, Kovania dismissively gestured to herself. To the heavy cloak, fit for royalty, draped from her back. To the water tight and lovingly crafted boots, clinging comfortably to her feet, that could stomp wagons flat. To the gloves wrapped around her wrists, snow compacting within the ditch sized wrinkles along her palms, that could swallow up armored cavalry with room to spare.
“Ah.”
The hyena flashed a half-cocked smile as she brushed at the lavish attire, scaled to her impossible size, that was worth well beyond its weight in gold. “As you know it takes a lotta work to clothe, much less house, someone of my standing and stature.” Eyes half-lidded, Kovania narrowed her gaze. “Speaking of work... you're slacking.”
“S-s-sorry! Sorry!” Agnes fumbled. Smoothing out the crinkles pocking her waterlogged parchment the possum smacked her lips. “Right now we are looking at the...” Biting down into her lower lip, Agnes squinted until her eyes practically pinched shut. “Servant's Quarters.”
Reaching into the mouth of the stitched together sack slung over her shoulder, Kovania produced a treasure trove of delights. Casks of wine; Noble wardrobes; Vases full of the finest fruit sealed shut in honey. Everything a servant would be expected to prepare but never to partake in.
Rolling her haul about her palm, Kovania dropped to a crouch. With the back of her hand she effortlessly flicked open a darkened window. Before a back draft, much less a single flake of snow, could rush inside Queen of Thieves had already reverse pickpocketed her haul and sealed the window back shut.
“So we're... rewarding them? For jobs well done?” Agnes inquired.
Kovania let slip a disgusted groan as she rose to her feet. “These ain't rewards. They're due compensation.”
Skulking past a set of barracks, its stained glass windows gone dark, the hyena wordlessly thumbed another serving of stolen goods down its chimney. Plumes of aromatic smoke billowed forth as salt slaked meats quietly simmered at the fireplace's base. “Thieves don't, yanno, stay thick as such unless it's worth their while.” Brows arched, Kovania shifted in place and looked back behind her. The sight of the snow swallowing up her steps filled her breast with pride. How long had it been since she had been able to pass without a trace?
“I take, and I take, and I take, and I take...” Kovania mused aloud while the wind whistled past. “And let's be honest with ourselves there ain't anyone or anything stopping me from taking some more.”
Agnes, her head held low, tucked her chin against her chest and knocked her knees together at the shameless show of power.
“That said...” Kovania mulled aloud as she emptied another bevvy of bribes into her palm. Chests, nigh overflowing with gem encrusted jewelry, rattled around her grasp. “Fear only gets you so far.” With a dismissive shrug the Queen of Thieves deposited her priceless bounty atop the snow drifts that had all but buried a bakery.
Bashfully wiggling side to side, her tail curled around her waist, Agnes stifled a dreamy sigh. “Queen Kovania-”
“Stop. That,” Kovania curtly commanded of her loyalest, and littlest, crony.
“R-r-right! Umm.” Fidgeting in place, Agnes sheepishly turned her gaze towards those window sized eyes that bore into her very soul. “Forgive me for saying so but this still strikes me less as self-serving and more... selfless.”
Lips wavering, Kovania stifled a raspberry. “Pshhhhhh. It's anything but!” The towering thief produced a crumpled handful of sequined gowns, gloves, and vests. “You tell me. The hell am I supposed to do with this gaudy garbage?”
Agnes stammered. “...Iunno! Sell them? Trade them?”
A low, and uncertain, growl reverberated within Kovania's throat. “Ehhhhh. Ain't all too many folks out there with the coin and the wares to shill out for what these are worth. I mean I could try and ransom them right back to the suckers I stole 'em from...” Stomping by Castle Drake's chapel, its ice crusted bell tower refusing to toll, the colossal Queen propped up the roof of the nearby nunnery. With a flick of her wrist she chucked the sinfully expensive attire inside. “But I already saw to it they don't have anything left to buy them with,” she cackled.
The possum couldn't help but giggle. “So I take it that's your roundabout way of saying they're not your style?”
“Much less my size,” snarked the hyena.
Parchment in hand, Agnes dutifully read out the remainder of their deliveries as she snuck not so subtle longing looks at the looming and lovely Queen of Thieves. In between each and every drop off ever dreamier sighs tumbled out from the possum's lips while her tail bashfully flopped to and fro. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Ever since that day, when Kovania had reduced King Drake to but a feckless figurehead, life within his namesake's keep had improved immeasurably.
KRSKK
That the hyena bothered to share anything at all with them was... benevolent beyond measure. A dopey smile spread wide across Agnes' mug as she took to tapping her fingers together. “I know you insist it's anything but... but... I think this, all of this, is awfully kind of you.”
Tossing her head side to side, Kovania carefully navigated the narrow streets. Her towering silhouette flit in and out of view among the snow squalls. “If you haven't noticed by now, Agnes, all this 'charity' of mine comes with an unspoken catch.”
“...It does?”
Kovania solemnly nodded. “Tithes, taxes, tributes. Whatever it is you wanna call my lip service... I will come collecting.” A devilish glint flared to life within the hyena's copper colored eyes. “These gifts are just a gentle reminder that no matter who you are, no matter where you are, I can and will find you. No one is beyond my reach.” Reaching into her sack once more, Kovania produced a crown and delicately planted it into Agnes' lap. “You'd do well to remember that.”
She shuddered at its offering and all the implications that weighed heavily upon her. With a nervous laugh the possum adorned what was once King Drake's crown. Running her hand along the its pompous curves, Agnes gasped when her fingers traced and twiddled against silky soft strips of cloth tied into bows. The decorative embellishments, white as the snow raining down on them, seamlessly blended into the environment.
“D-d-don't pay the ribbons much mind. They're umm... they're uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...” Cheeks puffed out, Kovania tucked her tail between her legs.
The possum bashfully twirled the bows around her fingers as she stuttered. “It's... You're...” Tonking her head against her colossal Queen's neck, Agnes hugged what she could of the hyena in heartfelt thanks.
“I like to put effort into my bribes is all!” Kovania blurted back as a searing blush came to crease her visage. “Nothin' more!”
Enthusiastically nuzzling into her colossal Queen, Agnes refused to entertain her excuses. “Thank you, Kovania. For the gifts, for your company, for... for...”
“Yeah yeah yeah...” mumbled the hyena. Tugging up her hood, Kovania tenderly sheltered the possum from the incessant snowfall. “Merry Christmas to you too.”
Category All / Macro / Micro
Species Hyena
Gender Female
Size 2219 x 1660px
Not a soft spot to be found in her cold, pragmatic heart, no sir!
Very enjoyable read! It's always fun seeing people explore these sides of their less-than-squeaky-clean heroes.
Very enjoyable read! It's always fun seeing people explore these sides of their less-than-squeaky-clean heroes.
None whatsoever! She definitely isn't a sizable softie!
I don't know if I would even consider Kovania a hero, or an antihero, for that matter! She's but a simple albeit proud thief with some standards.
Either way I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the blurb! Always appreciate your kind comments.
I don't know if I would even consider Kovania a hero, or an antihero, for that matter! She's but a simple albeit proud thief with some standards.
Either way I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the blurb! Always appreciate your kind comments.
The way I always see it is it's all in why they steal, and from who they steal.
Stealing food from the rich to feed your family is a whole lot more moral than stealing coin from the poor to line your own pockets. Granted, those are two very extreme examples, but one has to use their own best judgement, I suppose! Kovania can't be all that bad if she's willing to spread a little bit of her own wealth to make other people's days just the little bit brighter. Maybe not a hero, but certainly not a no-good villain either!
Stealing food from the rich to feed your family is a whole lot more moral than stealing coin from the poor to line your own pockets. Granted, those are two very extreme examples, but one has to use their own best judgement, I suppose! Kovania can't be all that bad if she's willing to spread a little bit of her own wealth to make other people's days just the little bit brighter. Maybe not a hero, but certainly not a no-good villain either!
I suppose you have a point what with how the locals prefer living under the thumb of an unabashed thief as opposed to their all but deposed king!
I do love how you've just created a Shady-verse full of characters that feel like they could fit right into the original guilds while still definitely being unique and new.
Also, I totally relate to just justifying why my good deeds are totally not good deeds. Got a reputation to keep.
Also, I totally relate to just justifying why my good deeds are totally not good deeds. Got a reputation to keep.
Much as a I try I simply can't quit Shady in its entirety. I'll always be poking at the margins as I continue blowing off continuing its plot proper. That you can see Kovania and her shenanigans easing right in means a lot. Thank you kindly, Brackish!
It was admittedly fun finding just how creative she could be with 'not' delivering presents. She's just reverse pickpocketing them. She prefers liquid assets. So on and so forth.
It was admittedly fun finding just how creative she could be with 'not' delivering presents. She's just reverse pickpocketing them. She prefers liquid assets. So on and so forth.
We all know, though. (Wonder if she has any plans for New Years. Stealing a clock tower from another kingdom for a countdown?)
She would have to get very creative with what excuses she hides behind for that one! XD
"Their artificer and builder guilds have been on strike for a while. The place needing a new clock tower should give them some leverage over the bigwigs."
Seemed like something she's say/do. Use it if you get inspired!
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