Bannor sighed thinking of the trouble that would have averted back on Titaan.
Janai shuddered. “Oh yes, that would have saved us much pain—several times.”
“So, not that I’m usually the one for protocol, but are we going to get some introductions?” Daena asked, hands on hips.
“Let’s sit down and have a drink,” Beia told them. “Introduce while you eat.”
“Good idea,” Daena responded. “I’m hungry.”
The group of them gathered around the table centered between the couches. The servants had brought out six trays, two each of drinks, snacks, and confections. Like everything else in Falconhall, the things were fancy. The decanters that held the wine, ale, and other beverages made from hammered silver or carved from precious metals into elaborate fruit patterns and scenery. The glasses were delicate crystal almost too beautiful to drink from. After a short stint at the Malanian citadel, Bannor was starting to become familiar with the food of nobility, items that had to look as good if not better than they tasted. The ones that looked like little pieces of meat on sticks looked safe enough.
Beia pointed to a couple things on the trays. “Watch out, those are really spicy.”
Daena immediately grabbed for those.
Janai was swirling some of the wine in the glass, sniffing it, sipping and grinning. The princess was pleased.
After everyone had started nibbling, Wren immediately began hitting heavily from the contents of one container. Obviously, the encounter had been harder on her than she openly showed.
“Friends,” Wren said, nodding to the dark-haired woman. “This angry but dear friend, is Ziedra Skyedoom Felspar. This is her husband Radian Felspar. Zee, Radian, on my right here is Arminwen Janai T’Evagduran, second princess of Malan.”
Radian dipped his head. “Arminwen, taramansil bele kelas tirathi.” He put a hand over his chest. “Mitri kelas Ziedra vini tas Wren en balas silrada jihira.”
Janai laughed. “Domon, bele domon!”
“Hey, I know enough Elvish to know that wasn’t nice,” Ziedra said. “Wren is not a broken star. Just bent a little.”
“The intimation is that you’re trying to bend me,” Wren said, eying Radian. “Elvish has words for that sort of thing that don’t translate into common well.”
“I think he expressed it admirably,” Janai said nibbling on one of the confections from the tray and rolling her eyes in obvious enjoyment. “Mmmm. You two were married long before he came around—and it shows.”
Wren stared at the elf woman and flushed bright red.
Daena laughed. “You’re so mean, Jan. That’s not what he said. The silrada jihira is one who is reluctant to kiss the star, for fear they will be burned. Elvish is so poetic. I love it.”
“Do you speak it well, milady?” Radian asked.
Daena shrugged. “I’m not sure what I speak, everyone understands me, and I understand them. I haven’t run into any speech that didn’t make sense.”
“This is Daena,” Wren said by way introduction. “She is Janai’s ward prodigal. Zee, remember that thing we talked about with savants and their alpha bodies?”
Ziedra’s eyes widened. “She’s one?! That’s why she has all her magic turned inside out, so she doesn’t scare everybody half to death. I wondered!”
Daena held out a hand. “Wait, you can see my magic?”
The dark-haired savant nodded. “Magic is my thing, and yours is so strong. I’ve been so preoccupied or I would have been more curious about it.”
“Did I miss something?” Radian asked.
Ziedra raised her chin. “So, Daena, you’re a first one—whoa—I never expected to see it happen.” She turned her head. “If it ever occurred, I imagined someone a lot more scary.”
“Zee,” Wren said. “She is scary—we are sooo lucky it happened to a basically nice person…”
Daena turned her head, blinking glowing green eyes. She smiled. “I think there was a compliment in there someplace.”
Beia studied her with narrowed eyes. “No wonder Aarlen was so fascinated with you.”
Daena shrugged, took a flat disk-shaped confection from the tray and munched happily.
“Take note of this last fellow,” Wren said. “He engineered the jailbreak that got me out of Nifelheim, if not for Bannor, I’d probably be dead. Bannor is engaged to Janai’s younger sister. So, he’s here to escape all the fuss.” She grinned at him.
“I wish,” he said. “Koass asked us to help the eternals. Even though it was just a request, he’s the kind of fellow you don’t want to disappoint.”
“I understand perfectly,” Radian said. “They’re pretty imposing even when they’re being pleasant.”
“So, is this a mission?” Ziedra asked Wren, expression intent.
Wren grinned. “Well, of a sort, I guess. I’m not planning on taking off for any length of time. My brother just about lost his mind when the four of us vanished and he couldn’t get to grandmother.”
“Whatever you do,” Ziedra glanced at Radian. “I bet you’ll need some mages. We’ve got the magic. I can fly, and Rad, well, he can do all sorts of things with his Kriar magic.”
“We really don’t know what we’re going to do,” Bannor put in. “We were just told to talk to Aarlen.”
“And talk with me you shall,” a deep female voice said from by the window.
Aarlen had reappeared and she had three more people with her, two women and a man. One was nearly as big as Aarlen, with silver hair. The other had gold skin like Radian and blue-black hair that swept almost to her knees. The man had long brown hair and had the thick shoulders and rippled body of a warrior who trained for exhibition fighting.
The three came up the terraces following Aarlen. The threads of the newcomers were as different as the people themselves. The strangest part being that the man’s pattern had much in it that was similar to Aarlen, but not the skein he would have if he were a sibling or child of hers—more like he somehow had a fragment of her tangled up in him. The gold woman had that subtle power he detected in Radian, that and she possessed a sophisticated knot of threads that he associated with incredibly ancient creatures like the pantheon lords and the eternals. The silver-haired woman gave off peculiar emanations. She radiated threads that simply did not exist in any other creature he had seen; threads foreign to eternity? She too felt like an elder. Where did all these ancient creatures come from?
Beia rose as they stepped up to the final platform. Going to the young man and taking his hand. The burly man responded with a smile clasping his hands around hers. The gold-skinned woman also stepped forward with a smile and silently took Beia’s other hand. The silver-haired lady gave Beia a respectful nod.
“So, Niece,” Aarlen said, stepping up to the table. “Since you’re sitting next to Wren, and she’s not dead, I assume that you’ve settled your differences?”
Ziedra looked at Wren and pressed her lips together. “Mostly. As long as she doesn’t leave me out of things again.”
“Does that mean you’re offering to assist in this?”
“Yes, Aunt,” Ziedra answered with a dip of her head.
“Excellent,” Aarlen enthused, rubbing her hands together. “Saves me the trouble of commandeering you. We needed a magic expert. I am most interested in seeing what kind of trouble we can cause with so many savants together, especially with a master savant here to bind them together. I don’t think that’s ever been done.” She gestured to the people behind her. “Since Beia knows my new guests better than I, she can introduce them.” She nodded to Beia. “Luv.”
Beia pulled the man forward. “This is Corim Vale. He’s the newest member of the Shael Dal. He’s become a project that Tal and I have been sharing.”
Corim rubbed his clean-shaven face and eyed Beia with a smile, dark eyes sharp with intelligence. “Is that what I’ve become, milady… a project? I thought I was doing all right.”
Beia sniffed and elbowed him. “You’re still a plebe—Ple
be. Live with it.” She turned to the gold lady. “This is Belkirin Dulcere Val’Saedra Starbinder of the Kriar dasta Fabrista.” The gold lady nodded. Bannor noticed that her eyes, unlike Radian’s were solid black orbs that seemed to have stars reflected in them. “She’s currently on special detached duty from the Kriar military to assist the Protectorate in recent matters.” Beia looked back to silver-haired woman. “Over here is Senalloy Moirae Corresont, she is a Baronian elite, a healer and warmage. She’s Corim’s—” She paused and glanced the man. “Assistant.”
Senalloy raised an eyebrow.
Corim rolled his eyes.
Gold-skinned Dulcere sighed.
Bannor immediately saw the tension between the three, two elders with their eyes set on the same boy. That had to be interesting. He had to empathize, he had dragons and baby first ones with their eyes set on him. Getting married wasn’t going to protect him either—not from those three.
“Corim, Dulcere, Senalloy,” Aarlen said, in that surprisingly pleasant deep voice. “Our other guests, who I did some research on while I was out, going around the table, on my left is Daena Sheento, ward prodigal for the elf lady next to her, Arminwen Janai T’Evagduran, second princess of Malan.”
Bannor noticed the way Corim responded to the word Arminwen. He made a slight bow at the waist in recognition.
“By Janai is Bannor Starfist,” Aarlen gestured to him. “Future Prince Conjugal of Malan, currently a Ranger elite out of Tenax. With him is Wren Idun-daughter Kergatha, my niece Ziedra Skyedoom Felspar and her recent husband Radian Felspar.” She turned back to the three new guests. “If you would have a seat, we’ll get started. Please avail yourself of the refreshments.”
Aarlen gestured Beia to a seat next to Daena and the she put her hands behind her back as Corim and the two elders sat down next to Radian. Bannor noticed the reverent way that Radian stood up as Dulcere came near and gave her some kind of salute that she returned with a nod.
Aarlen waited a moment while Corim poured a glass of something red, sipped it and leaned back to listen.
“All right,” the white-haired woman started. “Why are you here? First of all, let’s establish the problem. It is in a word: Baronians.” She gestured to Senalloy.
The silver-haired lady tilted her head, and kept a level gaze on Aarlen.
“While some Baronians like our friend here, may be relatively benevolent. There is a rather large force of them that are not. Apologies in advance Senalloy, but I’m going to use you as our model to put something in the minds of those of us who do not know the Baronians.” She brushed her hair back and drew a breath. “The first thing you might have observed is her stature. Like the Teritaani people from which I am descended, the Baronians are a warrior race culled to enhance size and strength. The things that aren’t apparent is that they have immort physiology which includes all the benefits you might expect; longer life, greater strength, resistance to energy, and a great affinity for magic and the powers of the mind. Now, as all of you here at the table are well aware… even one such person properly motivated can cause a great deal of mayhem.” She raised her arms. “For an example, you don’t have to look any further than myself.” She did a slow turn. “Consider too, that when I was born, I did not have the kind of physical and mental evolution that that person sitting right there was born with. Throughout her life she has grown and developed skills commensurate with those extra gifts.” Aarlen paused, her silver eyes looking around the group. She put her hands behind her back and began to pace. “So, what about that? What’s so bad you might think, after all we have the pantheon lords, each individually even more powerful. The pantheon lords themselves serve as checks and balances, they police their own to a limited degree. Occasionally, one of them will go rogue as some of us are more than familiar. However, the big difference is that they have never as a single group focused to do one thing.”
Aarlen paused looking around for recognition. Bannor could see where this was going and it already sounded pretty frightening. “Now, not every Baronian will be as experienced or accomplished as Senalloy—but elites exist on a ratio of about five to one. So imagine if you will, two hundred thousand Senalloys, supported by eight hundred thousand warriors all with a minimum of two to three decades of hard combat experience. Tie it together with an extremely strict military caste society. Not only can these people focus, they can focus well, and they have the capabilities to mobilize, coordinate, and orchestrate everything from the squad level to their entire fighting force.”
“Carellion,” Janai breathed. She took a hard hit on her wine, amber eyes wide.
“Milady,” Bannor said, focusing on Aarlen. “That brings me back to the question I posed to Koass. You don’t have an army like that unless it has a purpose. That kind of force could carve out territory anywhere in the realms. Even in the outer realms amongst the gods. An entire pantheon couldn’t hold a line against them.” He gestured to the people at the table. “With preparation, a group not much bigger than what’s sitting here flattened the high jury of Asgard.”
Aarlen drew a breath. “Koass didn’t say because he’s afraid to speculate. Corim here has a decent theory. One that I now prescribe to.” She looked to the broad-shouldered man. “Corim?”
Corim took another sip of his drink and leaned forward. “I believe they are after a device called the Genemar.” The man had a deep voice with an educated man’s refined diction. He reminded Bannor a bit of Laramis, except that he had the enunciation and bearing of someone used to speaking to groups. “There were certain members of the Kriar after it, as well as a ship full of another even more powerful race called the Jyril. It is my understanding the device was somehow stolen from the Baronians by a rogue member of their forces named Rakaar. Before he died, he revealed information about the theft and alluded to the device being ‘creation run amok’. What that means is still surmise.”
“Isn’t a million Baronians a bit many for a search party?” Wren asked.
“Not if you think somebody has the device and plans to protect it,” Aarlen said. “Whatever this thing is. It is not a toy. If you take that phrase ‘creation run amok’ and start speculating… it’s not hard to come up with some nightmares.”
“Something that can create life and matter,” Daena said.
“On a large scale perhaps,” Ziedra added.
“And it’s something movable,” Janai said taking a sip of her wine. “Because someone can steal it.”
“This is assuming that this device is what the Baronians are after.”
The gold-skinned woman sitting next to Corim placed a hand on the table, though she did not move her lips, she made herself heard in a voice both crystal clear and resonant. It did not make a sound but Bannor heard it in his head. He saw Janai and Daena both jump a little in surprise, obviously hearing it as well as he. It felt and ‘sounded’ exactly like the communication between savants and immorts.
The silver-haired Baronian looked around. When she spoke it was with a strange accent that made her words sound heavy and thick, despite that, the tone of her voice had a smooth silky quality that was pleasing to the ear. “My brethren have control of the Kriar home world of dasta Karanganoi, they would not be here for any kind of conquest or territory. They have all the lands and riches they would ever want. If they are here, they are being driven to it.”
“Say for argument’s sake that this device is what they are after,” Radian said. “What can the Shael Dal do? What can anyone do? Since they are here on the offensive, they would just retreat from any force that posed a real threat. So many of them can teleport or create gates, that you can’t corner them. I doubt they’re all sitting in one place where you could wipe them out with a surprise attack.”
/> “Dealing with the Baronians themselves is not currently our focus,” Aarlen said with a shake of her head. “Discovering what they are after is this group’s goal. What we learn will determine our next action, but our obvious intention is to encourage the Baronians to leave by removing the reason they are here.” She looked around at the group. “Understand, even though this group is small, this is not a small operation. Koass has emphasized that the entire resources of the Protectorate will be made available to us, all the eternals and Shael Dal have been directed to provide assistance once I’ve established the membership of this task-force.”
“Milady,” Bannor said. “A question comes to mind. Having some army experience, this smells to me of the parable of ‘where does the dragon sleep’. You can’t stop them. If, as lady Senalloy says, there is nothing to hold them here wouldn’t it be just as well to give them what they want and let them return to where they came from?”
Aarlen narrowed her eyes and stared at Bannor. “What if they decide to stay? Can we afford to gamble? Besides, if this Genemar thing is a weapon, and at least two elder races want it—it could be something of significance beyond all of our imagining. You must remember, often something designed to create can un-create—annihilate. That’s not something you want to take chances with.”
Annihilate. The word sent a shock through Bannor that made his skin prickle. “Creation, annihilation, perpetuity…” he said aloud.
“What?” Wren said by him.
“I—” He was afraid to say. It had just been a silly vision brought on by the stress of his recent adventures.
Janai rubbed his shoulder. “Bannor, what is it… your skin just went cold.”
He swallowed. “I—this may have nothing to do with what we’re talking about… but I had a sort of vision this morning.”
Aarlen folded her arms. “A vision?”
“Yes, I saw—or felt rather, through the Garmtur, millions of life-forces swirling around something. There was this pounding heartbeat. In this vision, all the living things around me turned transparent and this green light shined through them. Through it all were words—‘creation’, ‘annihilation’, and ‘perpetuity’… It was very strange. I’ve sensed things through the Garmtur before, but not scenes—never words. I got the impression it was a threat… but… I really didn’t have anything to relate it to.”
Reality's Plaything 3: Eternal's Agenda Page 8