Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm

by J. Michael Fluck

  “Yes, Prefect, we will not fail. I wasn’t prepared to leave just quite yet though,” he replied.

  “No time like the present, Sorcerer. The Talestra are forming. You are to leave immediately,” he ordered as the ten white, black, green, red, and blue dragons of one of the Aserghul wings assembled behind him. The black, demon-armored death knights started to mount the dragons, two or three per beast.

  “Yes, Prefect, we will leave at once. Traxsus?” he called as he bowed to Stalenjh. The blue dragon was also bowing to his Usurper master. And he turned and climbed up the blue dragon, the very simplistic and temporary saddle loosely bound around the dragon’s neck shifted slightly, and he had to fix it, for chromatics were not used to being ridden. Once the Talestra were all mounted, he waved his sorcerer’s staff, its dark crystal glowing with its eerie purplish-black light to signal all to leave. Traxsus jumped into the air with the ten younger dragons right behind him. As they cleared the five-fingered fortress and sailed over the bay, he had Traxsus send the image of the bulbous towers and minarets of Naterah to the trailing dragons, and they were gone.

  Several Enlightened senators started to arrive at the docks on Tekend’s private boats coming from all ports on the Alliance coast. He and Terrjok had called this meeting of all the Enlightened-affiliated senators, in a marshaling of the troops as it were. The island just north and off the coast of Ferranor was a private resort that belonged to the Tekend family with a couple of houses that had been sold to other wealthy Enlightened members. Terrjok also had a vacation house there, but many other places as well.

  “Ah, I see our illustrious former premier has arrived with his wolf bitch wife,” Terrjok said smarmily to Tekend as he walked over to him on the balcony overlooking the docks of the island from his luxurious mansion.

  “Yes, his ambitious wife; while she revolts me, she is a useful tool with her emotional arrogance and lust for power. She is akin to an unbroken mare that needs to have a bit shoved in her mouth, but until she breaks, she will pull our carriage far,” Tekend replied.

  “And her blundering husband, the stable boy from the Alliance plains. How did he ever become our premier and remain there for all those years?” Terrjok stated with certain distaste.

  “We needed a charismatic vessel to give our movement a boost, and his face, while insipid, achieved that goal. It was just hard to swallow his arrogant stupidity at times, while also covering for his mistakes. The Draco Guards are an astute lot. We must be rid of them when she is elected, maybe as part of our plan to depose her,” Tekend schemed.

  “Speaking of our next vessel for manipulation; look who is getting off the boat. Senator Masheam, our bumbling low breed from Ice Bay Province; the epitome of good, self-centered intentions—arrogance, emotional zeal, and a lust for power and change. He is a perfect candidate for the plans we and our allies to the east have soon to unfold. His charisma and youthful charm will be a powerful ally in our manipulation of the Alliance citizenry,” Terrjok spoke openly to his collaborator. “Ah, Premier Bilenton, Lady Hilrodra, please come in. Servants, fetch more of my vintage wine for the lady. An ale for you, sir?” he invited the couple in.

  “Why yes, Senator, ale would be fine. I see your hospitality has not degraded with age, as I see our eager and vision-impaired followers have not either,” Bilenton commented as the majority of the Enlightened senators and other distinguished guests began to arrive on Tekend’s ships and started to offload. The family servants, while not slaves, were almost treated as such. They were scrambling to attend the visitors and their escorts. “We must convince them of the importance of maximizing the attendance of the diplomatic envoy to the Shidanese capital. Many will balk at it, but it is important to tie up as many of the Capital Wing dragons as possible, if our friends’ plans are to work. Plus the more of these cowards who attend, the more a group panic will ensue when the attack comes to keep the metallic dragons and their pet riders busy,” Bilenton stated.

  “You have a keen mind for scheming, my dear premier. No wonder you held onto the position for all of your terms,” Terrjok complimented him excessively.

  “And that is not to be forgotten by anybody,” the former premier stated half-jokingly but with a sinister truth behind his salesman’s smile, for many of his political enemies among the Enlightened and among his own staff disappeared when he was in office and during the time he was the western Talinor provincial governor. However, his power and influence had been waning lately. He was still not to be underestimated though.

  Terrjok and Tekend smiled a reply, but both knew that their day would be coming soon. The pudgy senator continued the conversation, “Premier, we think that we should take advantage of that young senator from the Ice Bay Province. He almost has your charisma and is easily manipulated. I think he would make an excellent deputy premier to Hilrodra’s campaign team. He and Bidenj, another easily controlled but still seasoned politician.”

  “I think your idea has merit; I will convince my wife to choose them as her running mates. Two simple, but value-added stooges for our cause. Yes, the charismatic dupes, it is a good idea,” Bilenton stated as he took a long draft from his glass. “We will now convince our sheep to fly to Shidan on the very dragons we despise, in order to have them ferry us to their eventual demise or enslavement. How ironic and fitting, isn’t it?” he stated as their guests started to enter the mansion.

  “Yes, please enter, Enlightened ones, come. There are refreshments and wine in the hall,” Tekend bellowed out as he had his servants usher the dozens of guests into the large grand banquet hall. Over one hundred of the top leaders of the Enlightened Party gathered in the hall lush with rare food items and cuisine, as well as the finest of wines and ales. And there were even illegal lotus trays for consumption later when the true celebration began.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to my humble vacation dwelling. We gather today to first celebrate our collective enlightened vision for the future of the republic and to affirm our oath to the change that is inevitable. Please let us utter our promise,” he stated as all joined him in his pledge.

  “We, of the utopian and egalitarian ideals of the Enlightened, of the Enlightened vision, seek the inevitable and benevolent absolute power of the Enlightened control of the masses for their nurturing and own well-being and the contentment in that control for the betterment of society,” they all said in unison as they then toasted themselves.

  One junior senator from Atlean yelled out as he raised his wineglass, “To the fall of the Alliance, and its rebirth in the image of Enlightenment!”

  All in the hall yelled out, “Here, here.”

  “Now that we have reaffirmed our commitment to a better world, we have a few issues to resolve before we can truly celebrate. First, Master Remsin, would you please?” he looked over to a very haughty-looking man dressed in deep purplish robes and nodded. The thin-featured man grabbed the chain to a necklace he had around his neck and pulled it from his shirt, revealing a nice-sized piece of dark crystal. Some in the audience gasped as he uttered a quick incantation, and the room was bathed in a flash of purplish light that quickly disappeared. He then cast a protection-from-magic spell so as to prevent a magic or spying eye from an Alliance wizard from hearing or seeing the meeting.

  “Senator Tekend, is this not what we protest and rally against, the use of wizardry?” a guest asked.

  “My dear Enlightened friend, when you fight those with this type of power, you must fight fire with fire. Master Remsin has learned the art of sorcery from fine instructors and is our countermeasure for the so-called benefactor evil dragonstone-wielding wizards of the Alliance. May they all end in early demise,” he replied.

  “But the mere possession of dark crystal carries a life sentence on the prison island, my liege,” another party guest stated.

  “We are on my island. The Alliance wizards and military would not dare to inter
fere here, but we take precaution, for we are at war with all those who do not share our vision of equality and enlightenment. And as the treasure-hoarding dragons and weirs make war, we must retaliate,” the smug senator replied. “Now we must get to business before we can enjoy my hospitality. First, we must talk of the pending diplomatic envoy to Shidan to meet with the learned and wise King Ibliss. In a show of both solidarity and force, I call on all our Enlightened senate colleagues to join me in having the full complement of the Capital Weir’s dragons ferry us to the desert paradise kingdom, to show our message of peace and cooperation to His Majesty Ibliss. What say ye?” Tekend pontificated.

  “What? Have the giant flying worms and their dragonstone-wielding pets take us there? I would rather die first,” Senator Kushien stepped forward and straightened up, almost spitting his words out with the contempt he held for the dragons and their riders. His reference to the wielding of dragonstones was a point of extreme contention given his innate jealousy over the awarding of the powerful devices. This was a very sore subject, especially in light of that fact that no member of the Enlightened Party was ever granted one by a dragon. This sentiment was echoed by many of this party affiliation and mind-set.

  “My learned senator, I know of your anger at the dragons from our last senate meeting, and I fully understand your venom. However, we need to show one voice on this issue and use the very point of our contempt as the vessel to allow us to demonstrate the cowardly aggressive nature of these beasts and their riders. Doing this and exhibiting what can be done with our open arms, superior intellect, and compromise, we can dissolve this crisis while discrediting our opponents,” Tekend finished his tirade, at which Senator Kushien nodded his head in agreement.

  “My esteemed fellow free-thinking and tolerant friends, this is our opportunity to seize the initiative that both I and Senator Tekend secured from the bumbling Premier Reagresh in superior debate at the last senate gathering. This can be our greatest achievement; peace on the verge of a weir and zealot pro-Alliance senate war with a misunderstood peaceable people. This lofty goal is worth the sacrifice in being carried to our victory by our very enemies. What say you?” Terrjok spoke out in his deep but authoritative voice, and almost all shouted out in compliance as they toasted the hollow victory.

  “Then it is settled, my compatriots. I declare this meeting adjourned, please let us rejoice in our collective efforts. Servants!” Tekend yelled as dozens of kitchen help began to rush in wine and dozens of food trays. There were several young ladies very suggestively dressed moving in and through the partygoers who caught the eye of several of the senators and male guests. They began to slip away.

  “That was easier than I thought,” Tekend whispered to Terrjok as they talked in the corner of the large room.

  “Very impressive, we are. This is exactly the diversion that our friends wanted. It will be a resounding success and a massive defeat for the weirs… and the beginning of the end of their influence over the republic,” Terrjok countered as he touched wineglasses with Tekend.

  The Morgathian envoy had finally cleared the southernmost break in the mountain chain and was now covering their last several miles to Hasera. “These desert vermin better have a good excuse for causing us to take this long, arduous journey!” Harfrac yelled to his personal servant and guards, who were flying the wyverns in tight formation next to his. The Morgathian ambassador’s black silken robes were flowing from under his traditional darkened but very polished light, black-iron chain-mail armor as the dragon-like steeds rode the mountain currents toward the Shidanese city barely visible in the distance.

  As they flew down from the mountains where the drow tunnels ended, the cooler air slowly gave way to the hot winds that the deserts of Ariana were known for. The young apprentice sorcerer raised his staff, with the sizable dark crystal attached to it glowing, up to his face. “Vorten, answer your crystal,” the diplomat spoke into the purplish gem.

  “Harfrac, what do you want? Oh, are you almost there?” the sorcerer’s friend answered.

  “We are heading to the city now. I forgot how stinking hot this kingdom is. Why doesn’t the chromatics make us the cooling crystals that the metallics do for the Alliance?” Harfrac asked.

  “They say to make us stronger than the weak Alliance peoples through adversity,” Vorten replied.

  “I’d like to make us cooler right now instead. You hear things, how did I get picked from all the apprentices for this mission? You don’t think Prefect Stalenjh knows about me and his daughter?” asked Harfrac.

  “No, this is a mission of great importance that you were entrusted with, and you are among our brightest and most skilled negotiators,” Vorten replied, offering a rare compliment.

  “I see you finally admit my superiority in this and many matters,” the Morgathian sorcerer/diplomat announced with a smug smile across his face, which quickly went away, as his black hair twisted in the wind.

  “These Shidanese mongrel pieces of camel dung better have something more to offer than apologies and tea after this trip. I expect a slave girl or one of their temporary wives they always brag about,” he answered.

  “What, Stalenjh’s daughter does not satisfy you back here?” Vorten answered.

  “Yes, she is a sultry little whore, but my advancement to the Talon Covenant is much more important than her, and this little dealing will help propel me to that point without having to tolerate her any more than I do already,” Harfrac explained.

  “I sincerely hope so, my comrade,” Vorten interjected.

  “Ha, to negotiate with dung beetles will be an easy task. I am almost there; I will talk to you once this is over and I give my final report to the Covenant,” Harfrac ended the conversation.

  Back at Aserghul, Vorten looked over to Stalenjh, who sat across the black polished table from him. “Good, once he gets in the emir’s palace, I will force him through his own dark crystal to insult the king, and he and the guards will be killed. Then I will go to Tiamat and convince her to raze the city. The drow and orc armies are moving into place now along the main tunnel through the mountains. The Usurper dragons will send two squadrons and another from Tbok’s complement. Once the city is destroyed, the drow will move in and clean the gems out of the emir’s stockpile and the readily available ones in their mines before Sultan Dalmach’s people arrive there to reclaim the land. This is once the Arianans are brave enough to reclaim it. Our cut has already been negotiated among the drow. The orcs get all they can eat from Hasera, once inside the city. As for Harfrac, his service to the empire will be duly noted, and if I ever catch you with my daughter, a worse fate awaits you,” Stalenjh spoke.

  Vorten nodded in acknowledgement. Stalenjh saw the young man’s fear of him but liked the way he had manipulated his friend to his advantage. He had the drive, cunning, and ruthlessness to make a good Talon sorcerer one day, as long as he kept his place.

  As the four wyverns approached the city, a squadron of manticores with riders dressed in the traditional black head and face scarves met them and with a wave of the young sorcerer’s staff, as an acknowledgement, cautiously surrounded the Morgathian envoy and escorted them to the center of the city and the bulbous domed palace of Hasera’s emir. The structures were all made of the typical tan clay building material that was common to that area. Everything’s brown and dusty, Harfrac thought. What a dismal place!

  They landed in front of the main palace gate and were immediately met by a hundred of the emir’s palace guards and a dozen manticores on the ground. While a show of force to a visiting dignitary was customary, this seemed a little excessive to Harfrac. He looked at his lead guard and crumpled his broad forehead in a sign of concern. The guards dismounted their wyverns and were also looking at the manticores with apprehension.

  Harfrac dismounted and walked up to the emir’s emissary and gave him a slight bow. He then spoke through his dark crystal s
taff, which translated his words into their language. “I trust that the emir is waiting for me?” he asked.

  “Yes, His Magnificence is awaiting your arrival. Please follow me,” the crystal translated back. The sorcerer’s two guards moved to his side as forty of the palace guards escorted them through the large, green, finely decorated palace doors. The guards were actually wearing their breastplate armor over their finely wrapped white-linen tunics and their pointed steel/copper helmets with full circular battle shields and long spears. Their curved scimitars were hanging from their woven belts. The palace was finely decorated with murals of past battles the Arianans fought and scenes from other calligraphic designs. The emir was sitting on his golden embroidered pillow on the raised platform at the end of the great palace hallway. Slaves and slave girls were all attending to him and a table with brewed tea and food spread before them.

  “Please sit, my Morgathian friends, and enjoy our hospitality,” the emir stated as Harfrac sat on the firm pillow and rested his staff across his lap. He took the teacup handed to him by the slave girl and started to sip it. It was very sweet but always good. He grabbed a couple of pieces of seasoned goat meat from the tray.

  “Very good, Your Majesty, your hospitality is as always exquisite,” he complimented the monarch, who nodded an acceptance. “We do have several matters to discuss. First, we have gotten word that your ships are not only raiding those that trade with the Alliance, but the Shidanese as well. As for your tithing and sales of gemstones to Morgathia, well, they have not been up to standard as of late. The Morgathian Empire is embroiled in a campaign against our common enemy, the Dragon Alliance and its allies in the Northern Ontaror region, Freiland, Southland and especially the hated kingdom of Ian. In order to help us protect you, we need your cooperation, and…” Harfrac saw his dark crystal pulsate while it was translating, and he felt a strange tug at his mind. He had to pause to regain his composure.