Emersyn looked frail, almost childlike in his much larger arms. Her eyes glowed up at him. "I don't think I want to remember anymore a time when you weren't here," she said sleepily, the Ki beginning to work upon her hold on the waking world.
Dalaric nosed her cheek. She held still. Completely trusting in his ability to protect her even when so vulnerable. Emersyn tucked securely against his chest; he left the tent.
Aegwin stepped forward and brushed a knuckle across her cheek. His eyes were soft on the sleeping features of the woman Dalaric held. “Return quickly. She will not stay under for long and has not yet recovered from the use of her mana,” Aegwin warned.
Dalaric nodded. Aegwin sent him on with a squeeze to his shoulder. Dalaric took to the sky. Soon, the entrance to the ancient alcove came into view. It had sheltered the seers for as long as his mother had been alive. The bones that littered the ground next to the path revealed that the seers' tastes had not changed in the centuries since he had last visited them.
Pointed barbs and poisonous vines guarded the entrance to the narrow path. He brushed his Ki against the offending vegetation and they shrank away. He stepped onto the path and carefully followed it to the end. A large mound of dirt came into view. Haphazard windows were formed from the roots of trees. The stone door opened.
Careful to avoid the thorns which had unfurled, Dalaric stepped inside the hovel.
"Dragon Lord," the three ladies greeted with a mocking bow. Clothed in plain, brown fabric that draped their wizened figures with knotted skeins, they moved back to allow him further into the small room.
He gave a short nod to the ancient Akkadian females. Lacking hair, their skin had taken on the pallor of the mushrooms that grew out of the walls. They were the most aged of his people.
His father, upon taking him to meet the females for the first time long ago, told him they had been considered ancient by his grandfather's standards. They never answered a direct question as to their age, but legend told of the three sisters who had lived the entire history of Akkadian existence, even before the first dragon had taken flight on this world.
The door closed behind him and the sisters surrounded him.
"You have brought a gift?" the first one asked.
The second one cackled. "Dinner?"
The third sister waved a hand in the air. "Trouble."
"I have come to hear your words," Dalaric informed the trio.
The second sister yawned. "They all come for that."
The first sister frowned. "Where is your tribute?"
"You will need more than pretty words," the third sister intoned.
Dalaric held his impatience at bay. "I have come on the advice of my mother to see if you hold memories not known to our kind in her lifetime."
"Your mother?" the three asked in unison.
"Meghara, Lord Varian's Sydae-Va."
They frowned and continued to speak together as one voice. "She did not kill the whelp. She does not listen."
"The daughter of my Annunaki nephew?" Had his mother been acting on the words of these women?
The females cocked their heads to the side in tandem. "You."
Dalaric's blood chilled. Neither his mother nor his father had ever warned him that the sisters sought his death. "What purpose would it have served?"
"You brought the destruction of all that had been built."
"I have destroyed nothing."
The women moved to stand shoulder to shoulder in front of the door. "Upon wings of flame and a heart enraged you broke the bonds of peace with the beast without a name. What has happened cannot be undone. The curse of a blood-soaked dream rules supreme."
"What good would have come of my mother killing me?" he bit out.
The females smiled. Darkness yawned. Their teeth had long ago fallen out.
The first sister spoke, "Three different fates were laid for you."
"A path riddled with death was the one you chose," the third sister stated.
The second sister walked up to Dalaric and stood before him. She trembled with the weight of a million memories. Empty eyes saw through him. The old one looked at his mate.
"The heart of a king will burn so that she can be free from what must be."
The third seer walked over to gaze unseeing at Emersyn. "The beginning and the end. Alpha and Omega," she rasped out.
The first sister walked forward. Her head tilted as if she listened to long-ago words. "Mana born to become more; the world will never be as before."
The second female remained in front of Dalaric. He held Emersyn tighter to his body. The ancient one began to pant. "You have gained a powerful enemy, Dragon. One, you alone, will have no hope of defeating."
Voice hard, Dalaric demanded, "Who is this enemy?"
The three women turned as one to the small fire which flickered in the hearth. They fell to their knees. The flames surged to life, filling the entire room with dancing shadows.
"Ashra," they breathed out in unison. "The darkest soul surrendered to hate."
The second seer stiffened, her body suffused in a halo of fluctuating, darkly shadowed purple mana. She threw her head back. Bone popped. Skin ripped. Tendons stretched until the ancient one looked upon Dalaric with blood-red eyes from her head's inverted position. She laughed, the sound caught and bubbled in her torn trachea. The sound sent chills through the room.
"Who are you?" Dalaric demanded.
The female's face twisted into a sadistic grin. Her voice was strained; the sound struggled to be heard in the small room. "I believe you already know who I am, Akkadian." She turned her eyes upon Emersyn.
Ashra breathed deeply. The woman's soul was magnificent! The mana contained within the witch's form was meager yet, but the well was deeper than any mountain pool. At full strength, this woman would hold enough power to resuscitate her dark mana into a solid body. But there was something else there. Something new. Ki lived beside mana within her. The forbidden essence that had been denied her. Ready. Ripe to be consumed.
How wonderful to have such a treat land in her lap. Ashra had come for a taste of the witch. Had warped vast quantities of her dark mana to take over the flesh of the Akkadian. Even now she felt the pain of joining though the female's Ki had long ago been desiccated by time and consumption of human mana. She could never invade an Akkadian at full strength. Not yet. She would wait. Nothing less than a feast would suit her now. She would have to change the timing of her plans. She could not yet kill the witch. Her mana had to be at full strength.
"How are you enjoying her?" She licked her lips. "Her soul looks so tasty."
Fingers tightened upon his arm. He looked down. Emersyn gazed up at him, helpless but awake. He gentled his Ki and her fingers dropped.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"Give me the girl," she cajoled. "Walk away with your life. I trade your freedom for mine." She crab-walked to the Akkadian on twisted limbs. "What do I care for Akkadian affairs? The humans, however, are mine."
Within Dalaric's chest, Enkidu thrummed.
"Well, well, well," she purred. "Aren't you a naughty little Akkadian." She glared at him before backing away. "You protect her for nothing. There will be no more marked ones. The line will end with her. The one you hold will fail and your clan will suffer my wrath."
The three sisters screamed as one. The ancient one who had been taken over by Ashra fell. Dalaric felt her soul fracture in a burst of old, worn Ki. The three were now two.
The sisters cried into the darkness. "Leave! Leave us! You protect the end of us! Burn the witch with the hottest of flames before she falls to the Dark One's hands and frees the evil from her prison!"
Dalaric snarled, "I will not! Ancient you may be, yet your wisdom is a falsehood. I have come here for nothing."
The Akkadian quit the presence of the wailing sisters. He damned the ancients and their ways to the darkened hell Ashra and her specters occupied. Let them wallow in cowardice alone. Emersyn was his. Fuck the fates.
∞∞∞
Dalaric carried Emersyn into the camp shortly before midday. Emersyn was awake but not yet able to walk from the remnants of his Ki, so he left her with Paelia in the tent while he stepped outside to talk to Aegwin.
Dalaric held up a hand to forestall the questions he saw forming on the green dragon's lips and strode further away from the tent. Aegwin fell in step beside him. Once they were assured privacy, yet he could still see the flap of the tent's opening, Dalaric baldly stated, "The dark one, Ashra, hunts Emersyn."
Aegwin held himself stone-still while Dalaric described the encounter at the hut of the seers. He blew out a long-drawn breath when Dalaric fell silent. His mind whirled. Ashra. The conniving bitch who had been the source of so much heartache and evil had shown her face to Akkadians once more. What purpose could it possibly serve? They knew she fed on mana, and the dragon knew Emersyn's to be particularly splendid, but to blatantly seek attention from those who had once almost managed to end her? Why now?
In tune with his own thoughts, as usual, Dalaric's voice cut through the many questions crowding in Aegwin's mind. "She needs Emersyn, in particular. Not simply because the parasite feeds on mana. We must find out why. To understand this will give us an edge in the inevitable war to come."
"War?" Aegwin questioned with beetled brows. "You think it will come to that?"
"Ashra is many things. Stupid is not one of them. She knew what she was doing by inciting my protectiveness. She wants a fight. Lusts for it," he added with a scowl, remembering how intensely the foul one had licked her lips upon sighting Emersyn.
"The last conflict between Akkadians and Ashra did not end so well for the world or those in it," Aegwin pointed out. "Despite our need for the mana Emersyn holds to give our younglings hope, what good is life if the world is not worth living in?" Aegwin held up a hand when Dalaric's eyes narrowed into furious slits. "No. Do not look at me like that. I am not saying to hand her over. You know me better than that, Dalaric. I am simply stating a truth."
"Whether or not war can be avoided is a matter of debate. Ashra has the humans in her thrall. Nothing we can do will change that. Only by a show of her true face will their blinders be ripped away. I am not going to cater to their ignorance. Any Ashra seduces to her side is the enemy, regardless of their intentions. If it means Emersyn will one day stand as the last human upon this world, I will protect what is mine."
"She may object to those methods," Aegwin drawled. He chuffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "We will protect what is ours, Dalaric. This I vow. But even I, who hold no love in my heart for the soil-raping beasts humans are on the whole, had vowed upon joining with you to protect all who lived peacefully upon this continent. This included humans, as you had so adroitly pointed out to me."
Dalaric's jaw clenched. His hands fisted; claws dug into the meat of his palm. Damn Aegwin. He was right and he knew it. It did not make the instinct to kill any who could become an enemy easier to bear. This would be so much easier if honor were not also at stake. Slaughtering innocents was not something he could countenance. Only by murdering almost all the humans Ashra needed to provide her with mana had Akkadians managed to weaken her to physical death in the past so that their king could imprison what remained far from the light of day.
Aegwin’s musings broke into Dalaric’s irate ruminations, eerily proving how well he knew Dalaric's thoughts. "It didn't really work, anyway. We may have killed off most of the humans, but she still had enough power to escape us even without a mortal shell. She has used the time since to invade human dreams and change the past to suit her, my Sydae-Ra. She is not a goddess. Our king and his original council, which included both our mighty ancestors, were sure the that once answer to her true nature could be discovered, she could be annihilated. However, we have never discovered the means of destroying her hold on this world entirely.”
“Do we trust any of her revelations?" Dalaric queried in a low tone. "For it is only by her word that we know Emersyn to be the last of the marked witches. It is possible she lies in order to lessen Emersyn's value. Why will other Akkadians care to help in a war against Ashra if their own existence is not at stake? So many of them have become dependent on mana wine and a life without strife to maintain the sanity of their younglings. Emersyn offers hope they will not dare to believe in. One woman can only do so much. Therefore, why care? Why help end the one who only threatens her?"
"I think we need more information. I do believe she wants Emersyn," Aegwin ventured. "This makes me inclined toward accepting the rest of her revelations. Why lie when there is no reason for it? As for the other, why would any Akkadian not rise to Emersyn’s defense? For the chance to strike Ashra down, to end the curse of her dark mana once and for all, even those we call enemy will bow their heads to you.”
Dalaric ran his fingers through his short hair and scowled. "This is my territory. None have been allowed to settle here who have not vowed fealty to me. The other lands are held by weaker beings who have never cared for the lands or the people beyond what they can take from it. They have become almost the same pestilence upon the world as humanity had once been. Their apathy and sloth could be problematic. You speak of them as if they have not already lost what it means to be warriors.”
“Not all are warriors. Have I not served you faithfully with my green Ki? Our people lack leadership, my Sydae-Ra. Our species has withered since the death of our king. This you know. You, Dalaric, can restore our people to what we once were, along with the hope of salvation that none had dared to whisper of in too many centuries. As for the former warriors like Dorian,” Aegwin earnestly continued, “only time will tell if they pick up a sword. But there are others, the red and black breeds, who never forgot their purpose.”
Scowling, Dalaric recalled his last encounter with the red breed. “You would invite those our grandfathers exiled back to the continent? Bruin has barely managed to control them in the south despite being the First Son of your breed.”
“I was hatched in the south. I am well aware of the trials that particular breed has visited upon the leading clan there, my Sydae-Ra. Yet, even so, do not many Sydae-Ras travel to the south for the sole purpose of claiming red males for their Sydaes? They are not without redemption. We are not our grandfathers. You frustrate me with your adulation of our ancestors without giving proper respect to your own abilities, Dalaric. You have far surpassed Dalaran in both power and wisdom. Never has a white dragon claimed a green as Sydae-Ta. You are more than what has come before. You see worth where others see none. Set aside the prejudices of our ancestors and see the world and those in it as we are now. Humans, on the whole, are not worth the air they breathe. That opinion of mine has not changed. But through my interactions with them to serve you, I have come to know many individuals who I would expend Ki to defend.”
“I have no desire to rule our people, Aegwin. This you know.” A muscle ticked in Dalaric’s jaw. Aegwin had been alluding to such for the last century. For every incensed word Dalaric let spill related to the degradation of their people, Aegwin was there to cajole him to do something about it. To claim the place that had lain empty for far too long. The very notion was anathema to what Dalaric desired for himself. To live simply and without regard for the pestilence of dealing with a reformed nobility and council. In his territory, he was able to bind to him the few who desired to live there and kill those who would not follow his laws. As a king, he would be forced to serve the needs of the many at the expense of his own desires. No. Aegwin was wrong. He was not the one meant to replace their great king.
Still, Dalaric allowed, Aegwin had made other excellent points. He would think on the matter of red dragons once more stepping foot on the main continents. They were the fiercest fighters next to white dragons with little regard for limb or life. It was their need to assert their aggression that had seen them banished so long ago. Too few could stand against the constant onslaught of dominance displays reds partook of. Only those males who had been
castrated were claimed by Sydae-Ras. With their aggression tempered and their submission proven, the males were allowed back on the main continents.
The black breed, also, had remained loyal to the calling of their Ki as protectors. Had not Aiken, brown First Son, claimed two for his Sydae? He could not recall their names, but Dalaric remembered the stoic yet intense regard the two had levied on him while he received Aiken’s oath. He had known that, should Aiken come under attack by himself, they were prepared to face his flames despite knowing such would be to guarantee their death. That Aiken had two such males at the ready to defend him had impressed the white dragon.
Now, as the white dragon clan grew strong again, as hope once more came to become realized, Ashra would see it ripped away. Emersyn. It all came down to her, Dalaric realized, jaw clenched tight. It did not matter, he decided. What she meant to the world at large did not matter. His world was comprised of his clan and his Sydae. Their safety and how to ensure their future were all he need focus on. No. He was no king. The world could hang, so long as those he sheltered beneath his wings were safe.
Dalaric told the other male, "We will make alliances with those who will prove useful to our purposes and to slow the encroachment of any who would make war upon this continent. This will mean sharing information and perhaps allowing others into my territory I would not otherwise have allowed." He paused, then added, "We were both males who had refused to mate, yet here we are. Perhaps there are others amongst other breeds that will see the value in what Emersyn represents. Provided they join forces with our cause."
Aegwin arched a brow. "What, exactly, are you proposing to bargain with? I do not see her accepting an army of males as her Sydae-Tas, even if you and I could stomach it."
Emersyn Page 24
