by K. E. Young
Dragos sighed. "That's the problem. There is nothing except the Silver River and I don't think that would work. It's on the wrong side of the city."
Sara's voice was even smaller than before. "What if I made something? How big would it have to be?"
Dragos' expression froze. "It wouldn't have to be wide, it just has to touch bedrock along its entire length, but it needs to be almost a beru long to reach from the mountains to the sea. How powerful are you? How far can your power reach?"
"I… I'm not sure." Sara stuttered. "The furthest I can sense is the big city on the cliffs in the Waste."
Dragos shot a questioning glance at him. Kaio thought about it. There was one place he thought might fit that description, but he couldn't be sure. He had never been there. "Coranis perhaps? It was the High-King's original seat of power near the center of the Waste. As I recall, they built it around a tall waterfall, but the river that fed it failed and the city was abandoned long before the Accusers."
Dragos looked thoughtful. "Maybe. If your Lady is strong enough…" He was silent for a long while. "I dislike the idea of not fighting the valbore, but Drakken doesn't have the warriors and mages to spare right now. The last war was too costly. The valbore got too strong before we could arrive and there has been too little time to recover since."
"They're counting on that." Although Sara's voice was quiet, her words rang with truth. "They want you to fight the valbore, but not get in their way afterward."
Dragos sounded tired. "You're probably right. I find my greatest hope for this situation comes from the words you spoke to Kaio earlier, 'Stop playing the game by their rules'. It's sorely needed wisdom. I had already decided to close the borders if needed. Your words made it a little bit easier to bear though."
Kaio hated the thread of defeat in his friend's voice. "Sara will start in the vault-library in the morning. Perhaps she can find the means to destroy it. I know that's her desire. She gave Sano directions on how to find the valbore once we locate the starting point of the route in Fanul's mansion. There's a good chance we can locate it before it escapes."
"While Sano searches for that, we need to do what we can to lock the valbore down."
"If Kaio or someone else helps, I can get started on defining the last edge. I've never channeled power from anyone else, but I've read about it.
Dragos' eyes burned with unspoken hope. "Receiving is easy. It's the channeling that's difficult. I've never gotten the hang of it. My mentor said I was too controlling."
Kaio had to laugh. "How did he get that idea, I wonder?"
Dragos growled. "Now is not the time Kaio."
Captain Blas spoke up. "Lord Gonturan, the Imperial Guard practices channeling power in case it's needed. We would be happy to help as long as Lady Sara comes to no harm. Our orders are to keep her safe and evacuate her if necessary."
"I have already made plans with Kaio to get her out if it comes to that. The valbore still has a hold on her and I don't intend to let it have her." Dragos' voice was fierce. He sighed. "Istanetlu better get here soon."
"He'll come. You know he will." General Istanetlu was the only one of Dragos' men who had fought the last valbore. He could give valuable insight into what would and would not work. Kaio hoped he could fill in a few of the blanks in Sara's knowledge. The more she knew, the better her chances of discovering the means to stop it.
She spoke up. "Kaio, as much as I want to get started on figuring out how to destroy them permanently, I think we need to define the south edge first. It's important. We can't destroy it unless we can restrain it. I may not know as much about magic as you and Dragos do, but even I know it takes power to charge a spell big enough to cover the entire country. A lot of power. We may not have enough time to bring that kind of power into play. Dagresh said I would become its steed at the next red moon so we have little time. We need that southern edge."
Kaio didn't want her exhausting herself when she had so few reserves, but she was right. He nodded. "All right. We take food with us and you eat as often as you can. This will be a much greater drain on you than the healing and you have little to draw on. I'll give you what strength of magic I can, but it will still take your strength to control it. Your strength is still the limiting factor even if you have the power of others to draw on to do the actual work."
She took a deep breath. "Maybe I can use creek beds or gullies as a basis, where I can work with the land. Make it deeper rather than trying to create it new."
"My lady, I'll have men scout with that in mind. Perhaps we can have a plan in place by the time you're ready to go out in the morning." The captain's expression was grave. He was well aware he and his men would be on the front lines if the valbore broke free. If a few extra duties forestalled that event, they were worth the effort.
Kaio said, "Dragos, we might want to evacuate the poorest sections of the city. If we can limit the valbore to the city, maybe we limited its food supply too." In Kaio's opinion, none of the Therysi were worth saving except the poor. The more money they had, the worse their attitudes got.
Dragos' mouth twisted in helpless anger. "I was thinking about that. If you can figure out how to evacuate them without giving the richer merchants and the lords a way to buy their way out I'm all for it. As is, I'd be willing to wager half of them will try to flee by morning. I'm serious though, no one leaves without our permission. The lords must take responsibility for this country or step down permanently. Those who abandon Therysal by morning will forfeit their lands and titles."
Kaio thought about it, then stood and addressed Sano at the other end of the table. "Sano, does the old sewer system extend as far as the Hive? I thought the Hive came after Theryn settled here."
Sano nodded in thought then said, "You're correct. It goes as far as the old market district. Anything past Dead Water Road is just gutters on the surface."
Kaio turned back to Dragos and Sara. "Dagresh used the sewers to take Sara to the valbore. They anchored the summoning in a place touched by that system. The edge of the old market district used to be a river. It was shallow and between silt and trash thrown into the river, it became blocked and dried up entirely. That's why they call it Dead Water Road. It's a dry riverbed. That river was a branch of the river trade takes from the other side of the mountains. We may not have to shield the entire city. The ridge on one side, the sea on another, then take the dry riverbed up to where it joins the Silver and follow the Silver to the mountains, then the mountains to the ridgeline. Evacuate the poor to the Hive. The living conditions are terrible, but it's better than an empty field or the road and has the benefit of being less than palatable to the rich. We might want to evacuate those who built on that dry riverbed first though."
Sano nodded firmly. "I'll have my men get started at dawn. We'll clear the riverbed first so your Lady can do her thing, then the people inward from there. The old fairgrounds fall outside the borders you've defined. I'll inform the vendors in the marketplace it would be best if they moved there until this is over. People will need food and water. The fairgrounds have a couple of wells. I'll post guards there to ensure the water gets apportioned as fairly as possible." He gave one of his easy grins. "I tell you, I feel much better about all this with some plan to limit innocent deaths even if all we can do is lock it away behind a shield until it starves."
Dragos nodded. "Call out the garrison. Have them take the spare supplies for the army and set up tents on the other side of the old fairgrounds. That way, at least some people will have shelter. Restrict them to families with children. The garrison soldiers can dig latrines too. Any camp setup they would do in the field. I know its winter and the task will be miserable, but it's necessary. Soldiers train for it so they'll be able to set up faster than anyone else will. Have them keep the peace too. I need your men herding people out of the city."
Sano flashed a quick grin. "I'll go issue the orders now. They won't like me giving them orders in the General's absence, but I'll make sure they follow them."
Kaio snorted. "The man definitely has their respect and loyalty." He looked down at his lady. She was pale, grimly eating a second helping taken from the common dishes even though it was clear she no longer had an appetite. He couldn't imagine how he had ever thought her weak. He seated himself and followed her lead. They would all need their strength on the morrow.
Captain Blas accompanied them back to their quarters and briefed those of his men already on duty. Kaio helped Sara back into her nightgown and tucked her into bed. "I'll join you in a little bit. I want to check on a few things before tomorrow. If you need anything, just call out. The guards will hear."
"Don't stay up too late. You need sleep too and you haven't rested well since this all started."
"I will." He whispered and brushed a kiss on her cheek. "Sleep."
Out in the main room, he addressed the squad leader. "Keep her safe. I need to check my files on the old factions. I'll be back in an hour or two."
The first thing he checked was the old map of the city since he wanted to be sure it followed the course he recalled. The old sewers had emptied into both the Silver and a river once called the Gold. When it silted up, they sealed the sewer exits. Given how muddy it would have been, the name had more to do with the color of the water than anything else did.
Reviewing the factions in play at the time of the dragonlords arrival, Kaio couldn't find any with the same mindset that Dagresh's had exhibited. However, he saw a trend he hadn't noticed before due to his unfamiliarity with Therys and the sheer workload. In case after case, any attempts at reconciliation or alliance failed. Assassination, accidents, miscommunication, there were a variety of causes and some appeared to be chance, but Kaio wasn't buying it. The effects were too consistent. There was another faction working in the shadows and using the others as pawns. A faction that didn't want Therys unified. It reminded him of the first moves of the Accusers, which was a sobering thought all by itself.
The Accusers had started as a faction among the native Ansoren within the Mage-King's domain. While the Mage-Kings had followed the philosophy that the government should serve the people and rulership was a responsibility, their opponents had felt rulership was a right and the people should serve them. They had started by sowing dissent, accusing the Mage-Kings of mismanagement with manufactured evidence to support those claims. By the time the Accusers had come out publicly, the war was already in full swing.
The actions of Dagresh's faction coupled with the sabotage of alliance and peace the dragonlord's arrival had interrupted bore a disquieting similarity of mindset. The Accusers had died almost a thousand years ago in the final conflict with the Mage-Kings though.
Kaio sighed. It was late and he couldn't learn anything further now. He made a brief stop at Dragos' quarters to tell him what he had found.
"You're right. It looks an awful lot like the Accusers. Perhaps they consider themselves the heirs of the Accusers." Dragos had the calculating expression Kaio remembered from childhood. It augered ill for their opponents.
"We can't be certain the Mage-Kings identified all of them before the end of the war. If not, there may be libraries or documents still out in the Waste or surrounding countries with their works we haven't found or were taken before the dragonlords began collecting them."
"True. I've always suspected." Dragos sighed. "It was less than a hundred and twenty years after the Mage-Kings ended their disastrous war when someone was stupid enough to summon a valbore and we collected the libraries to keep them away from power hungry fools. How did they discover the process? It's not obvious.
Dragos ticked items off on his fingers. "First, they have to locate the particular slice of ahaynu imprisoning a valbore, which is a difficult task since the prison isn't part of this world at all. Then they have to link the prison to this world to interact with it, corrupt the lock to the prison to weaken it enough to allow you to pass food to it, and then feed the valbore to strengthen it enough to break free. If you were trying to let a valbore loose at random, you could try for centuries without success, but we've been fighting them roughly every hundred to a hundred-and-twenty years ever since. I can't imagine it happening unless some of the works of the Accusers are out there in the hands of those who think they can use a valbore."
Kaio was grim. "Do you think we've been fighting them all along? Have they been the ones letting the valbore loose?"
"I don't know, I wonder but I have no proof. It feels right. A valbore always seems to get free just when a stable and reasonable government comes to any region in the East. There's a reason that legend of Therys being broken and corrupted got started. Therys is the only nation that has never had either a fair and reasonable government or a valbore."
Kaio nodded. The thought tickled a memory that refused to surface. He was tired. "I'll think about it later. For now, I will wish you a good night. Sara told me not to stay up too late." He smiled tiredly. "She insists the bed is big enough for the both of us."
"Ah. Her trust increases. Good. Go sleep, my friend. Tomorrow will be a tiring day for all of us. Girru, Arhis, and I will move the vault-library to that old fort a little way into the waste. Sara gives me hope we don't have to sacrifice all of Therys. I hope she has the strength to do this. I'll be checking in between loads. Sano will lend strength too. He has the training."
Kaio nodded and wound his way back to his quarters.
Sara was asleep and he didn't want to rouse her. Attempting to move in silence, he changed into a pair of soft sleep pants and slipped under the covers. He gently cuddled next to her. As the scent of her hair filled his nostrils, his dragon sighed in contentment and he tumbled into sleep.
11: River
Sara: 33rd of Hunting, 3837
I woke up feeling warm and safe. Vague memories of Kaio rescuing me in my dreams from every evil teased me, but I had slept well despite that. I felt better and stronger than I had since Fanul. Maybe I could handle today's task after all. I opened my eyes to find myself cuddled against Kaio's chest, his arms around me. That explained both the warm and the safe. I couldn't help smiling. I would never have thought I'd find myself in any man's arms and consider it a good thing or be happy about it. I rubbed my cheek against him enjoying the satin feel of his skin.
"Good morning, My One." I felt his happiness through the bond and it strengthened my own. His arms tightened as he nuzzled the top of my head.
"We should get up. There's a lot to do today. Besides, I'm hungry." I added that last as my stomach growled.
Kaio laughed. "Is that what woke me? Are you sure it won't attack?"
I laughed at the reminder of the last time my stomach had growled at him. "You order food. I'll get dressed."
"Call out if you need help" He swung out of bed wearing nothing but a pair of soft knee-length pants, his hair down and tousled from sleep, momentarily distracting me. He was very nice to look at.
Kaio was right. There was a lot to do so I didn't waste time with a bath. A sketchy swipe of the pits and crotch would have to do. It was cold outside so I would wait until afterward for a nice, hot bath. Kaio helped with the laces and my hair since my shoulders still didn't want to lift my arms and had little strength, but at least I could manage the rest of it. I was healing fast. The bruises were an ugly green and yellow, but already fading. The bites and burns had crusted over and some of the scabs were falling off leaving nothing behind. No scars yet. For the first time, I had hope that Kaio and Master Bedin were right about them. I was thin and I could count my ribs now, but I was healing. If I hadn't driven Kaio off with my scarecrow looks yet, maybe scars wouldn't either.
Thorn arrived with a breakfast tray piled high and a large basket filled to the brim with snacks and lunch. The sun was shining and I was in a good mood. Maybe I had just needed the means and a reason to fight back, or maybe it was just waking up safe in Kaio's arms. I devoured as much of the overloaded tray as possible. Kaio wrapped up the rest and tucked it into another basket along with a few oddments. I incl
uded my notes on the 'programming language' I had created. I would need them.
Kaio made me change into my boots and thicker socks, then wrapped me up in a furry cloak, scarf, and gloves. Thorn gathered up the baskets and we were off, the Imperial Guard surrounding us. It looked as if all of them were there and I wondered when they planned to sleep. I shouldn't have wondered. More dragons were landing as we got to the forecourt of the palace. Once they had cleared space Kaio and the guards transformed and heaved themselves aloft. The guards were smaller than Kaio's dragon. Their colors ranged from a muddy brown to an electric blue. I still thought Kaio's dragon was the best though. The others were ungainly in comparison. Kaio's dragon was beautiful and graceful as flowing water. A guard picked up Thorn and his baskets. Kaio and Captain Blas were the last to transform. Kaio held his paw out for me and handled me as gently and carefully as if I were spun glass. He flew towards the mountains and turned to follow the river towards the sea when we crossed its path, then out over the city.
I examined the land meticulously. I was glad I had seen so many satellite pictures on Google Maps. It helped me to understand what I was seeing. The former path of the river was apparent. A ramshackle collection of rough buildings, huts, and sheds crusted the former watercourse. To one side was a more organized bit of city with real streets and a paved walkway at the edge. On the other side, a slope up to a tightly packed warren of slums bordered the dry riverbed. Fortunately, we were high enough to avoid the smell for now, but I knew I would smell that warren when we landed.
It occurred to me that recreating the river would help sanitation there. Maybe help clean it up. They would need bridges though. The debris has to go somewhere. Maybe some of it could go into bridges and other improvements. That got me thinking about how I would do this. Maybe if I put in something similar to the bridges, steps, and walls on the Seine in Paris? It would make the space useful, control floodwater, and give me a place to put the displaced sand and rock.