by K. E. Young
"Good day to you Ambassador Torgon, would you come with me please?" Kaio reasoned it would be best to get him away from the others first.
"Ah, your Emperor has come to his senses has he? It took long enough. He's too young for that post, but I suppose he's the best you can do." Torgon came to his feet with a smile. "Let us go see him then. I don't suppose there's much time is there?"
Torgon seemed too satisfied and Kaio was glad the plan was to leave the arrogant gulo to his fantasies until they got out to the ships. Kaio nodded and waved the Ambassador to follow him. He led the ambassador and the troops to the quiet area they had selected and signaled the men to transform and go aloft.
Torgon looked uncertain. "Lord Shalatu? I thought we were going to the Emperor."
Kaio smiled politely. "The Emperor has already decided sir. I am to take you out to the troop ships already in transit so you may act as his emissary. The troops aloft are to show the occasion proper respect. I will fly you there myself, and brief you on the ship. As you say, there isn't much time. I have prepared a carrier for you so you may ride in comfort."
Torgon looked startled for a moment before his face smoothed. "Ah. Thank you! I feel honored. I suppose we shouldn't waste any more time then."
Kaio directed the man to the carrier brought out by military trainees. It resembled a cross between a tollbooth and picnic basket. With the aid of a trainee, the Ambassador climbed in with laudable dignity. Kaio stepped back to give his other-self room and transformed. Kaio took his time reaching for the sky. It took more effort but was better for the passenger. No matter how much he hated the man, he wouldn't give the game away until the right moment.
Once he had achieved sufficient height, the rest of his men formed up around him and they headed out to the ships. It took a good half hour before they sighted the eight heavily laden ships. Kaio circled the ships once before deciding to land on the largest, its decks stacked with crates and an ornate banner flapping from a standard at the bow. Two of the men followed him and the other two took up station circling the little fleet.
Kaio's men landed and transformed first then once again aided the ambassador once Kaio landed. Torgon looked a little green. One of Kaio's men still aloft stooped to grab the carrier.
Kaio smiled at the ambassador once more. "Are you all right Ambassador? I tried to make the flight as smooth for you as possible. It's common for those unused to flying to feel a little queasy. Your stomach should settle soon." Kaio watched as a beefy man in uniform with an arrogant bearing exit the little cabin aft and stomp toward them. The commander presumably. Kaio wasn't at all surprised to see deep red-orange hair on the man.
A breeze eddy trailed an astringent scent from the closest crates across his nose and he peered at them. Kaio felt a chill go down his spine as he realized Vallen hadn't planned to leave anything to chance. They wouldn't let the Drakkeni stay around after they defeated the valbore. The scent was an herb charmingly called Demon's Bane. It had the unique power to block the ability to call magic. If a dragonkin ingested it, he couldn't use his magic, but he also couldn't call upon his other half until the drug had run its course, severely weakening him.
The Dogaren tribesmen far to the northwest used it to hunt some of the fantastic creatures roaming their land and the Karthim used it to block magical ability in their victims. Now the Arboren had crates of the stuff on board their flagship.
He turned to the guardsmen with him and quietly spat orders in Drakkeni. They nodded acceptance and he turned back to the approaching commander with a smile.
He gave a shallow bow. "Commander. I am Prince Shalatu Kaio and I come with the words and directions of my Emperor."
The commander glanced at Torgon and seemed satisfied with what he found there. Kaio couldn't see Torgon's expression himself, but he had an idea. The commander beamed. "Excellent! And what are the words of your Emperor, sir?"
Kaio drew himself up and wiped his expression. "I am commanded to inform you we do not require the aid of the Arboren in fighting this valbore. You and your ships are to turn back and return to Vallen. We will answer any failure to do so with force. We will answer any attempts to return with force. I am done."
Before their shock could wear off the guardsmen transformed. Each grabbed the netted crates on his side as he launched skyward. The wallowing of the ship before the restraining ropes snapped caused the men on deck to lose their balance long enough for Kaio to shift and swipe the decks with his tail. A Valleni soldier pulled his sword and tried to stop him, but ended with Kaio's fangs embedded in his chest and back. Kaio shook his head to ensure he was dead, tossed him aside, and climbed for the sky roaring the signal to his men, blood smeared across his muzzle.
Chaos reigned on deck as the commander picked himself up, shouting orders. Archers came on deck, letting loose a volley at Kaio, but couldn't take into account the speed and agility of a royal dragon.
It was less than a minute before the rest of Kaio's men came into view, each bearing two or three rocks of man-size or larger. The Valleni commander should have remembered why no invasion of Drakken had ever succeeded. His men didn't even have to come into range of the arrows. They could fly higher and they trained constantly in hitting their mark under far more difficult conditions than this. If the commander's ships were stout enough they might make it to a port. Perhaps.
Kaio told one of his men to drop a missile on the flagship. The mast dipped as the boulder crashed through the deck and cracked its base. Kaio circled the little fleet to see if they had gotten the message. When it still didn't turn back within an acceptable time he signaled towards an outlying ship and watched as two missiles crashed into it amidships and it began to sink. The men it conveyed had the choice of abandoning their weapons and armor and jumping, or being dragged into the abyss along with their ship.
Kaio spared a moment of compassion towards those men. They probably weren't Arboren themselves. They were innocents, probably good and even honorable men with families and friends. It was unfortunate they took orders from the Arboren. He hoped the other ships would pick them up as they returned to Vallen.
Kaio waited tensely for the ships to turn. After about ten minutes, the archers stopped trying and the flagship set banners signaling the other ships. Shortly after that, the remaining ships turned back towards Vallen. Kaio was relieved to see two ships took time to fish some of the men out of the water. Not all of them though. There wasn't room. The Arboren Commander had packed as many troops on those ships as he could.
Kaio told all except six of his men to dump their loads and collect the Valleni men before they drowned. It was winter and the water was cold. They wouldn't last long. He signaled the remaining six warriors to follow the fleet to make sure they didn't return.
His men made a game out of collecting the soldiers and sailors. Stooping on them and grabbing them like fish with a foot before shifting them to a forepaw so they could make another run. Kaio himself fished seven men out of the sea before turning back towards land. They flew low and landed on the closest shore. Two of his men stood guard while the others went back to fishing. Bonfires were lit using driftwood to keep their prisoners warm. Three of the prisoners had the hallmark red hair and Kaio had those three dosed with some of the Demon's Bane and restrained separately. Kaio left orders and headed back to the Waste camp to make arrangements.
It took another three and a half hours flying back and forth to shift their new prisoners back to camp. Once they settled, Kaio explained the situation and told them the story of the Arboren. He informed them that as soon as the Drakkeni had dealt with the valbore, they would have to choose. Whether they would continue to serve their current masters and remain prisoners, or join the Therysi forces and fight to free the people of Vallen. After that, Kaio summoned a healer to tend to their hurts, and left to allow them to eat and rest.
Kaio had most of the rest of the Demon's Bane dumped in the cesspits of the Hive. Kaio wanted to make sure the herb couldn't taint the environmen
t before it rotted. The coming fight required mages and dragons. Accidental exposure could be disastrous. He kept just enough for use on the Arboren prisoners.
After he had settled all of the details, Kaio tapped another six guardsmen to take up sentry duty on the troop ships and sent them off to relieve their brethren. It was time to report to the Emperor.
Kaio gulped a mug of hot tea to warm up and trekked to the Emperor's office. Once he had given his report, he would go to the library. He wanted to hold his mate for a moment. He was also more than a little curious about what had so upset her that morning.
Sara: 36th of Hunting, 3837
The war council had scattered to start the process of organizing the offensive. Ren was off looking up a few points of theory the Mage-King documents might clear up, Gelal was choosing troops, Dragos was issuing orders for the Therys guardsmen, and Urash was off speaking to scouts.
Gelal came back into the room and dropped a plate in front of me. "Eat. You're still too thin. You'll need energy to do what you have to tomorrow and the day after."
I looked up at him. "Orders General? I'm not one of your soldiers."
He grinned and sprawled in the chair across from me, setting his tea mug down with a thump. "A fact I am well aware of, Lady Sara. As strong as you are, you are no warrior. Despite that, you and I have something in common, something which sets us apart from everyone else in this circle of command. We have faced a valbore and lived. Only you and I know how terrible they truly are to face. Urash, Sano, Dragos, and Kaio are all good and capable men but they have not been tested."
Gelal wiped his face, his eyes haunted. "Twenty-four years ago we faced the valbore in Vallen and it almost destroyed us. The Arboren summoned it in the far north of Vallen and it feasted on a large tribe of Dogani as well as its Valleni targets. Because of the distance, it took too long for us to receive the news. By the time we got there, it had become too powerful.
"We came so close to losing, Sara. Closer than we have ever come since the first time Drakken faced a valbore. During that fight twenty-four years ago, we lost an Emperor and almost lost the world.
"As you know, valbore are not quite of this world. They can pass through physical walls yet manifest claws and teeth to rend when they will. Nothing but magic can restrain them. Rhal was young and untried. He succumbed to terror and expressed it in aggression. He lost his head and tried to attack physically what terrified him so. When he got too close the valbore gutted him. Emperor Rex saw his son fall and threw every shred of magic he had at the valbore. He drained himself dry, giving his own life to distract the monster so one of his commanders could drag Rhal to safety.
"By taking himself out of the defenses so suddenly Rex disrupted the shield keeping the valbore contained and almost doomed us all. We finally recovered and defeated the valbore, but it cost us too much. Hundreds more died than was necessary. Rhal lived, but he was never strong after that, the valbore had stolen too much of his strength and done too much damage. He became old before his time. It was a relief for him when he died a few weeks ago."
He stared down at the table in front of him for a few moments in silence. His finger tracing linked circles in a puddle of spilled tea. "Rhal made me a General for pulling him to safety, but I earned it by surviving. One other Commander survived that day. He committed suicide three years later rather than continue to face the nightmares. Battle curse. It's why I studied mind magic. I wanted to discover a way to cure it. I've had some success. Not enough."
His eyes flicked up and bored into mine. "Urash experienced your memories of meeting the valbore, but it's not the same as facing it in real life. Your reactions were not the same as Urash's would have been. That experience has prepared him though. He will be better able to handle facing the valbore now. It will make him a better Emperor too." His lips quirked in a small smile. "He likes you. I've long felt what he needed most was a friend. It seems I was right."
I was silent as I thought about what he had said. "I didn't fight. During all the bad times in my life, I learned if I fought, it would get worse. All I could do was endure it and go on."
His smile was kind. "You survived. You had your own testing long before you met the valbore. Few meet pure evil. None survive it untouched. I hope someday you will entrust me with the story of your testing. No one should have to deal with those kinds of memories alone."
He laughed softly. "You earned my respect that night. You had spent all day building a river so we could trap it in the city rather than sacrifice hundreds or even thousands of innocents to the monster. Your action gave us time. By all standards you had done enough yet there you were — hurt, exhausted, damaged to your soul and you spoke of destroying a valbore. It is one thing for me to speak of destroying it. I am by nature a force of destruction, a warrior. It is my role to kill and destroy. I do it to protect, but it is what it is. Destruction is my role in this world.
Yet it is something else entirely for a person such as you to speak of it — and mean it. You are a creator, a scholar, a nurturer, not because you are a woman, but because it is what you are. You build, not destroy. That is your role. The river proved that. Kaio told me of how you insisted on building the walls the way you did so you could give sewers to the Hive later. Yet you would go against your nature to do what is necessary. Not merely for your own survival, but for everyone else's too.
"We have faced the dark and survived. The day after tomorrow we'll do it again so someone else doesn't have to. You will do well."
He straightened in his chair with a sigh. "I've selected the men to be in the sewer with us and have briefed them on what they need to do when I give the signal. All are trained in lending their energy to another so you'll have them to draw on." He eyed me curiously. "Are you sure you want Kaio there? We can still make other arrangements."
I picked up a piece of cheese and watched Urash come through the door behind Gelal. "Yes. I'll need him there. I've touched its mind before. The bond won't be enough and I need the reminder of why I'm fighting. The valbore's mind is… unsettling. I may not feel the bond with the valbore there. I know it'll be unpleasant for Kaio and he won't be able to help, but that would happen no matter where he is. He ought to be where his mere presence helps."
Urash's voice was brisk. "Don't argue Gelal. Sara is right. Kaio needs to be there, for her sake. I don't enjoy having to restrain my cousin, and I pity him for what will happen when his dragon feels the valbore enter her, but it can't be helped. Sara, I've arranged for the rest of the mages and the warriors who will be with us day after tomorrow to spend the remaining nights in a camp in the Hive. Ren argued that if you were having trouble recovering energy while in the Waste then the rest of us mages shouldn't be here either. We'll all need to be at full power. I've also sent troops to identify the precise center of the Waste and prepare things for you there and at the supplementary positions. Ren will lead the mages in the Waste. I'll lead the mages aiding you in the sewer."
I took a bite of fruit and nodded. "Thank you. Can I ask you a question?"
Urash took a seat at the table and poured a mug of tea. "Always."
"Why would Ren think Kaio was Rhal's son?"
Urash froze and Gelal's brows rose. "Ah. Not a question I was expecting. There isn't any reason to believe Kaio is Rhal's son. There are those who think Kaio should have been Emperor in my stead, but no one doubts who his father is. Rex, my father, and my father's mother all had straight hair while Ren's mother had wavy hair. Ren inherited her hair — and passed it on to Kaio. Wavy hair is unusual among the noble clans, it's seen more often in commoners so Ren and Kaio were both heckled about it.
I frowned. "When I first met Ren I confronted him about how he was treating Kaio. I asked him how he could treat his own son that way. He expressed doubt that Kaio was his son and said there were those at court who claimed he was Rhal's. What he said bothered me. If there isn't any doubt, then who is telling Ren that Kaio is Rhal's son and why would he believe them? I thought dragonkin co
uldn't lie."
Urash looked disturbed. "An excellent question, I'll have Daro look into it. Meanwhile, you need to know more about the family you've joined. My father, Rhal, was the younger son. He was from Rex's second wife Sana while Ren was from his first wife Hea. Shortly after his birth, Ren got sick with the same illness that killed his mother. Many others got sick at the same time.
"A trader had come into the port with goods from a land beyond the Blue Sea. Rarities. Everyone exposed to the trader got sick, and those exposed to them… Many died.
"Because Ren was the Emperor's only child, they tried everything they could to save him. They were successful, but there were — after effects. For much of his youth, Ren could not even feel his dragon. They weren't sure he even had one. The sole reason he wasn't sent to family in Akkad is he was the Emperor's child. Rhal was born when Ren was four. By then, Ren's dragon could be felt by others — but not by Ren. He didn't feel his dragon until he was eleven and it didn't manifest until he was twenty. Usually, you can feel your dragon almost from the first and it manifests around age twelve or thirteen. To this day, Ren and his dragon aren't… one. He still thinks of his dragon as being separate from himself. A stranger."
I thought about that. "So he was an outcast, wasn't he? Treated as a null by others his age." Urash nodded thoughtfully and I continued. "It's something that leaves scars. He would have gotten used to thinking of himself as unworthy, not good enough. Everyone said so, even his own father. That's what I saw. That's what bothered me. He thought he wasn't good enough. I lived through that particular hell myself." I paused as I reasoned it through. "It's why he believed them. He didn't think he was good enough. He watched Kaio grow up as everything he wasn't. More like Rhal. A real Drakkeni. A real Shalatu."
Urash frowned. "It fits. The question is why. What do they gain from it?"
I shrugged. "I can't answer that. Asking Ren who he's been talking to would be a good start."