Legon Restoration

by Taylor, Nicholas

  "What's it looking like?" Festina asked.

  "Well..." she said taking in a large set of tracks heading into the woods, "it looks like everyone or nearly everyone left, but it doesn't look like there was a struggle of any kind." She sniffed the air at the edge of the woods, "Something isn't right here..."

  She took her Elf form, cursing that the last thing she wore was a dress. Her squad was none too happy but stayed close over head, wards flicking around her. She could smell recent death someone put up a fight. She walked into the woods, following the tracks, the smell of the trees was too strong...she walked up to one, seeing a small crystal embedded in its trunk. She went to look at it, hearing a snap behind her. She whirled drawing her faloon, startling a man holding a small boy.

  She lowered the weapon. "Where did everyone go?" she asked.

  The man shook his head, "Don't know miss, my son and I stayed the night in the woods having some father-son time, ya know? We came into town about an hour ago and there's no one home."

  "You've been here for an hour you say?"

  He nodded, Umbra turned her attention to her squad, "you heard that they've been here an hour and we didn't sense them."

  "Right concealment spells, what's with the crystal in the tree?" Tacita asked.

  "I don't know yet, but fan out go to active seeking spells and breakers, I want to find out what is being hidden. Tacita, call in for backup," Umbra ordered and looked back to the man. "I'm sorry, I'm talking to my squad, are you injured?" she asked.

  "No miss, just a little concerned, my wife and daughters aren't around either, I'm worried."

  He looked it too. Umbra asked him to stay close, as she walked on. There was the tell tale crack of magic as wards broke, but it wasn't loud, she doubted even the man and boy heard it.

  Festina's voice rang in her head, "Broke a pod of crystals about five minutes north of you, they weren't strong, maybe had enough power to last a week."

  She looked back at the man, "I am going north of here just a ways, I need you to stay here OK?"

  He looked worried but nodded anyway.

  She started to move; as soon as she was out of sight she pulled a large crystal from a bag on her shoulder, releasing her familiar. It took a form of a wolf, walking just ahead of her. The scent of death grew stronger, much too strong and Umbra picked up her pace, coming over a small hill and stopping cold. Her gut clenched as she looked down at the bodies. They were stacked almost neatly in a dug out area. She walked up to the small pit, trying to wrap her mind around what she was looking at. The people were naked; their clothes no were to be seen. Only a few of the bodies were pierced with arrows or cuts. She could see deep furrows from carts leaving the area. She started to shake.

  A new mind joined hers, it was that of Sydin. "What are you doing on the ground..." he started and stopped seeing her thoughts.

  "There's still no sign of struggle...these people trusted their killers…how...how can this happen?" she said walking up and touching a body, the hand in hers was cold to the touch. "They had to use magic..." she looked at the few bodies with damage, "those must have resisted..."

  "Umbra stay put," Sydin ordered but she wasn't listening.

  She heard a cry and turned to see the man and the boy running towards the pit, the man grabbing at one of the bodies mumbling to himself. Umbra shook herself and looked down at the tracks. She could see them going north.

  "I have to stay put Tacita but you don't, these people have only been dead a few hours, find those carts!" she ordered.

  Tacita acknowledged the order, flying north. Umbra was angry, she didn't want to be stuck on the ground but she'd received a direct order. She tried to calm the man and boy and help them to find their loved ones. It wasn't long before Sydin and a contingent of ground units were in the area. Sydin was in his Elf form to better inspect the site.

  "It appears that the Impa weren't looking for a scorched earth policy," he said.

  "What do you mean?" Umbra asked.

  "You saw the town, nothing was burned or harmed, only the people. I dare say the Iumenta saw how we reacted to them burning towns and decided to be more subtle about their doings." He took in the heap of people adding, "And it appears they also have become far more efficient. I bet these people thought they were being evacuated from the front," he said shaking his head. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "You did good today."

  She spun, "Did I? How did I Sir? I went off orders and found that despite upping our presence people are still being killed by the hundreds." A thought occurred to her and she recoiled. "Did we do this?" she asked more to herself.

  "Umbra this war was inevitable, you know that..."

  "Not this time...the last time...did we do this? What if we'd finished what we'd started?" she said looking up at him. "What if at Bellum Omega we'd have pushed on...none of this would have happened..." she said feeling shame, thinking of all of the death in the land, of those in the care and Mors. Rachel's sunken face burned in Umbra's mind. Yes, if only Bellum Omega had been different.

  * * * * *

  Legon touched down in his hanger. The ship rocked back and forth in the rough waters of the north but it didn't bother him. There was something he found oddly soothing about the movement of the ship. Magic kept him from motion sickness and with his size the movement just didn't feel that extreme. He and Iselin's hangers were joined, and he found her curled up sleeping. She didn't stir when he curled up next to her. It was odd sleeping next to his wife in his dragon form. It was necessary in case of attack, ascending took energy that could be used in a fight.

  She was warm next to him but her scales were rough and he couldn't hold her. Memories flooded his mind. Times when they could lay in bed together, having his arms wrapped around her sleeping form, fingers running threw her long hair or scratching her back. He could still do that, but with claws he doubted it would have the desired effect.

  He let himself get lost in a daydream. Kissing her soft skin, feeling her body mold to his...her lips…

  Iselin grunted only half awake. "Stop thinking about that," she muttered in his head.

  Legon pushed his nose against her neck, "I would love to be nibbling on your neck and ears right now love, you know that?"

  She turned her head opening one eye, "You're mean, careful I'll fight back."

  He made a few other comments and true to her word she fought back sending him memories of some of his favorite times with her.

  He chuckled. "Fine, you win," he said.

  They had been in the north for the better part of a month. When they'd arrived the Elves had started losing ground. Since then they'd retaken much of that ground back. With Legon's arrival and reinforcements from the south, morale had boosted and the Elves were making progress. News of the mass graves also encouraged many to fight with more vigor.

  "Should it be a shock?" Iselin asked.

  "No, not after Mors; in truth I thought things would be worse than they are," he said honestly.

  Iselin nodded in agreement. The images they'd seen from that camp still haunted him. Human and Elf forces had also found the dark warriors; they were becoming a regular part of daily warfare. They were of little consequence for the Elves, skilled they may have been, but on the same level as Elves with centuries of experience they were not. Still, the Dark Warriors did their damage. He didn't see any of the green Iumenta class eight. Opes thought that the Iumenta were using him as a battle standard, a way of boosting morale in the area; Legon was hoping for another shot at him. Maybe at the dome he thought. With that thought he nodded off to sleep.

  * * * * *

  Neelya walked down the dimly lit hall, approaching the Queen’s study. She knocked twice softly.

  "Who is it?" the Queen’s voice came from inside.

  "Neelya, Un Prose."

  The Queen asked her to come in. Neelya walked through the door, taking in the fine rug of two dragons on the floor. The room never seemed to change, it was a constant. She found the Queen on a terr
ace overlooking the city. The moon was dim this evening making the lights of Bailaya seem all the more bright. The Queen was leaning on a stone railing with her arms crossed, something very uncharacteristic of her.

  "Join me at the rail Neelya," she said with as much warmth as the Queen could possess.

  Neelya came next to the Queen, resting against the rail as well. They didn't speak for some time; Neelya would on occasion look over to the Queen, wondering why she was summoned.

  "Neelya, do you enjoy serving me?" the Queen asked.

  "Yes of course Un Prose, it is a great honor, " she said in earnest.

  The Queen looked at her with what looked like the hint of a smile, "I was like you once you know, young, trusting and filled with ideas." She looked back out over the city. "We see the fruit of many of those ideas now here, in this city," she said.

  Neelya looked out over the city and said, "You have done great things."

  The Queen looked at her again, "Do you think so? I'm not so sure anymore."

  Neelya looked down, what was she to say to that? The Queen never showed a second thought about anything.

  "I don't mean my end goal, but how I've tried to go about doing it. Neelya, learning from mistakes is the mark of a great leader," the Queen said.

  "What mistakes could you have possibly made?" Neelya asked, worrying she had gone too far.

  "Neelya, I am as much your mentor as you are my assistant, you have nothing to fear this night from me." Then she pointed to one of the mansions surrounding the castle, "Do you see that house?"

  Neelya said that she did, adding with a bit of disgust, "That house belongs to the human, House Ceeder," she said looking at the dimly lit house. It was large, one of the largest buildings in the area.

  "Yes that is Ceeder; they were once a Great House you know, maybe even the greatest of them all. Once I turned them, turning the rest of the great human Houses was simple. Ceeder is now the only House left that has the resources and pull to keep a property so close to the Palace. The day will soon come when they will be forced to sell that property and finally, the noble Houses will have no more pull," the Queen said.

  "It will be another victory," Neelya said.

  "I'm not so sure anymore. The first thing I did was to destroy the human nobility, I made the people dependent on me, but it was that same nobility that had put me in power. They were the ones who paid and ran the war efforts and kept the people in order, now they are gone and I have puppet lords in their stead. And now when I need real leaders to take charge of humanity, the Elves are at our door step." The Queen looked to Neelya reading the look on her face, "You are confused? I'm not saying that destroying the human leadership wasn't going to be necessary, but now I wonder if I should have waited until the Pawdin Empire had fallen first."

  "They will Un Prose, they will," Neelya said reassuring.

  The Queen took her hand, leading her inside to a writing desk. On it was a map of the area. "I'm not so sure," the Queen said pointing to a spot on the map. "This is the Bailaya Dragon Dome, south of it is the Elves, to the north we are losing ground again. The only thing between us and the southern Elves is that dome," she said fingering the dot.

  "But a dome has never fallen," Neelya said with confidence.

  The Queen gave a weak laugh. "You are correct but this, like the Elves’ Dome outside of Manton, is merely a public relations piece, it is half the size of other domes. It isn't a matter of if it will fall, but how long it will take."

  Neelya felt concern for the first time. "If it is so small couldn't the Elves just go around it?" she asked.

  The Queen looked over at her, eyes sharp, "You do not pass a dome, that is the road to death, have you not studied the War of Generations?"

  Neelya said that she had, but hadn't made it far into the histories yet.

  The Queen relaxed saying, "Toward the end we had the Elves beat, we thought. We'd push them back to what they call the Mahj line. We took the last of our offensive strength and hit the line pushing past a dome, not taking it, just making it around. We thought ourselves genius, it was a straight shot to Seeon, but we were naive. The Elves let us pass that dome. Once our armies were well past it, the Elves jumped hundreds of Ascended to the dome. In so doing they cut off retreat and supplies. They came behind our army overwhelming it. In that battle we lost our ability to form an offense again. There were no survivors." Neelya tensed as the Queen went on, "The world saw that you do not pass a dome. A lesson the Elves remembered at Bellum Omega. Never forget," she said.

  The Queen changed tact, asking Neelya to retrieve some paperwork, the night’s reflections over. Neelya gladly did as she was asked; thinking about what the Queen had told her.

  * * * * *

  Emma found herself with nothing to do for a while and was walking around the building. Sasha was hard at work having made some discoveries that she thought could aid the immediate war effort. Sasha had Edling with her, along with the rest of the team; many had been going without sleep, so intense was their focus. As for Emma, she had a fairly good grasp on what they were doing but research wasn't really her job. She found herself most days acting as a messenger for Sasha, with the other Houses. She saw Ankle standing next to a window, looking out it.

  She came up behind him, not really trying to sneak up, but he still jumped when she touched him. His hand went to the handle of his sword, the blade sliding part way out of the sheath.

  Emma jumped back. "Ankle it's me!" she said scared.

  He breathed out; grabbing his chest, "Emma I am so sorry you caught me off guard..." he trailed off.

  "I'm wearing heels on a marble floor, how off guard could you be?" she asked concerned and a little miffed.

  She took him in, his face was droopy, his eyes with bags underneath. You should be looking better after a month of being here. "Ankle, since you aren't doing a really great job of guarding, why don't you walk with me for awhile and keep me company," she said.

  He grimaced, "I don't think that's a good idea Em if the major finds out..."

  "Finds out that you left your post at my request, he'll what?" she demanded, Emma did have a reasonable amount of power, but she didn't often use it.

  "He could punish me and going off mission is punishable by death," Ankle said half hearted, he knew they he wasn't going to get executed for walking around a heavily guarded building.

  Just then, the major in question came bouncing around the corner giving Ankle a stern look, "Why are you not at attention?!"

  Before he could answer Emma turned coolly to the major, "Because I am talking to him and asked him to relax, also he is going to be spending the rest of his shift with me." She turned to Ankle, "Commander, come with me."

  Ankle looked like he didn't know what to do and Emma turned back to the Major, whose mouth was open. He shut it with a snap. "You heard her man, get to!" he grunted, bowing to Emma and walking off.

  Emma started down the hall, after a few moments Ankle came trotting up behind. "You like messing with him, don't you?" he asked, once they were out of ear shot.

  She smiled, "I can't even tell you how much, maybe if he hadn't been so rude the first time I met him it'd be different."

  She kept walking until they were at her office; she entered the room indicating for Ankle to take a seat at a table by the window. She grabbed two glasses and a bottle of Poti, taking the chair across from him. She poured the dark amber liquid in the glasses, handing him one raising it in a toast. "To House Evindass," she said.

  "To House Evindass," Ankle repeated then took a sip.

  He relaxed in his chair, glancing at a book on the table, picking it up, "Bellumm O-Omega?" he asked.

  She sighed, content, "Yes, Bellum Omega, it means 'the end'."

  "That sounds happy, what's it about?" he asked flipping the pages.

  She smirked; the book was written in the Elf language Glosso. Ankle picked up on that, and placed the book on the table.

  "It's about the last battle in the War of Gener
ations, would you like to hear about it?" she asked.

  He nodded.

  "The Iumenta had the Elves against their own border once; they passed by the domes of the Mahj Line, a mistake that cost them nearly their entire army. You see at the time the war had been raging for nearly fifty years, both sides in truth were crippled beyond immediate repair. After that victory the Elves pushed the Iumenta back to their own border. The Impa army was so weak the Elves were all but able to run across the land. But the Impa had a Mahj Line of their own; though I don't know its name.

  "The battle of Bellum Omega lasted for weeks, the Pawdin troops breaking like waves against a dragon dome. However, each wave got closer to victory. On the last day the Pawdin and Impa generals met in the field that separated the two armies. Neither general is alive today, but legend says that the Iumenta and Elf knew that the dome would fall, but that the losses it would cause would make it impossible for the Elves to take the rest of the Impa lands, nor would they be able to defend themselves. On the flip side the Impa would also take such losses that they too would not be able to fight the Pawdin Empire. They say that the generals looked out at their tattered armies, both defeated. There was going to be no winner, there couldn't be, both Impa and Pawdin Empires had lost the war. The two generals parted ways, the Elf telling his army to go home, to console their families and to rebuild what they could.

  "After that the Iumenta were spotted only a hand full of times for nearly two thousand years." She looked at Ankle. "This is Bellum Omega, today some Elves feel that had they sacrificed their own nation the tyranny of the Impa wouldn't be here today," Emma said.

  Ankle looked thoughtful for a moment. "Is that why they are so sad?" he asked.

  "Who, the Elves? Yes, they feel the blood of our race is on their hands."

  Ankle shook his head. "I've seen what our race does to each other, tyranny was going to be a part of this world regardless. How can they blame themselves for something that they could not control?" he asked looking at her.

  "Don't you do the same?" she asked.