Eventually, when one of the Kingdoms refused to join us, we would need to attack a fortified position. In preparation for this, Dellon had built scaled-up versions of the ballistae and catapults that defended both the Garrison and Imperial Fortress walls. These were not only larger and more powerful versions of the ones he’d already made, but were also completely portable, designed to be easily disassembled for transport and then reassembled wherever we needed them. The troops sent from Ashton were a perfect fit for this assignment, as we would not be losing any combat-ready soldiers in training them for this duty.
The remaining troops from Ashton that weren’t trained on the siege weapons were molded into our support personnel. This was a somewhat less glamourous role, but it was made clear to them that we viewed them equally importantly as the battle troops. To underscore this point, they were all issued the same red capes that identified the rest of our soldiers and given ranks that reflected the various responsibilities they held. With their numbers included in our ranks, the Imperial Army had swollen to thirty-five hundred soldiers during those months of quiet expansion, a force that no nation on the continent could afford to ignore.
With seven Realms to draw from, The Imperial District itself also grew phenomenally. The dwarven caverns expanded into complex developments, and villages in the valley seemed to spring up almost overnight. Ridge had long ago finished his work on our defenses, and after carving stairs and channels for two unique elevator-like devices that the old plans outlined for us, he’d begun constructing the city that had been laid out on the plateau overlooking the valley. We were still a long way from needing that space, but with the way things were going, and the future I had in mind, it was only a matter of time before those lands would be occupied as well. The valley and the mountain above were not the only lands we altered to suit our needs. Even the wilds beyond our walls began to yield to our progress.
The Imperial Army was far too large to stay encamped within the District itself, so they set themselves up outside the Garrison’s walls. For safety, Evans sent out large groups to patrol the forest around them, and then expanded those efforts into training exercises. Our soldiers began to actively seek out the dangerous creatures that roamed the wilds, and often made tactical strikes against some of the stronger threats that the scouts discovered. Their efforts allowed the loggers to clear even more of the forest, and the first farms and even small villages were established outside the protection of the Garrison’s outer walls.
With the increase in our population, and the pacification of the surrounding lands, the first caravans began making the detour down the road we’d carved out and into the Imperial District itself. For the first time, my people were able to trade with the traveling merchants directly, purchasing the few things we couldn’t provide for ourselves, or exchanging the goods and services they had to offer. It was an incredible boon to us, and a true indication of just how much my Empire had grown.
Although Bane’s growth began to slow somewhat, he still continued to get even larger. I even dared to let him carry me to his secret training place when he finally let me see what he could do.
Stay back, Sintári, he warned me the first time he showed me his flames.
I took a few steps away from him, and he simply opened his mouth and shot a stream of blistering flames over a dozen yards in length. He then altered the flow of the fires, making them even hotter, before letting out a final blast that extended even further away.
‘That was amazing, Bane!’
I couldn’t help but be completely in awe of his accomplishment. The fires he’d shown me would roast anything in their path, and virtually assured that he could vanquish any opponent, as long as he saw it coming.
Thank you Sintári. It has taken me some time to understand just how my fires work. It was only when I realized that the flames are a product of my altered venom sacs that I began to unravel their mysteries.
Well, didn’t that just make perfect sense. Once Bane’s fangs became true teeth and he lost his venom, his venom glands must have become some sort of flame-producing organ instead.
‘You’ve done really well, Bane. I’m quite proud of you. Is there a limit to how much you can do that?’
Yes, but as I grow, I am able to do more and more.
‘You are magnificent, Bane,’ I complimented him as I stroked the scales behind his ear and sent him a tendril of my love.
Thank you, Sintári, came his thoroughly contented reply.
Bane wasn’t the only one to improve himself—I’d been taking lessons with Saibra, and I discovered that her blade skills were indeed greater than the old Drill Master’s. I took a tremendous beating from her at first, and even by the time I’d reached my limits training with her, I still could only just barely hold her off for a short while before she tore me apart. But the gains to my skills were not the most startling thing I learned from her.
One afternoon, after taking a rather brutal beating from her, I decided to broach the subject of the oath she’d made and that Raithe had passed on to me. Although I’d felt nothing when it occurred, I wasn’t sure what effect the passing of that link might have had on Saibra. Knowing what had all too often happened in the past, I reluctantly asked her about it while I sat down to recover from one of her lessons.
“Saibra,” I began cautiously. “Do you know if what Raithe did created any connection between the two of us?”
“If you’re trying to bed me like the others,” Saibra shocked me with both her insight and her bluntness, “You only need to ask.”
“I… How… How do you know about them?” I stammered in my awkward surprise.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe,” Saibra casually assured me. “You’ve been more than cautious enough. I doubt that anyone else would even know what to look for.”
“What gave it away?”
“Well, with your Chief Minister,” she began explaining almost offhandedly, “you two keep passing each other these knowing glances that only lovers share. The same sort of thing gave away Captain Ella as well, although you’re much more restrained with her. Now, Queen Líann on the other hand, was a little more difficult for me to figure out. I could tell right away that she cared for you, but you were not quite so obvious with her until more recently.”
“Saibra,” I swallowed hard as I replied to her. “I cannot tell you how important it is that this does not get out. You have to understand that I need them—none of these are simple affairs, it’s part of who I am as a Sintári. If things were different, I wouldn’t feel the need to keep my relationships secret. But the world hasn’t known my kind for a very long time, and I’m not sure that its ready to understand how different I am just yet.”
“Do you have room for one more?” She stared into my eyes intently as she asked.
“No, Saibra, I don’t,” I replied, returning her gaze. “I didn’t choose any of them at random, and none of my relationships are simply for pleasure. Each one of them was drawn to me for a specific purpose. Their roles cannot be so easily duplicated.”
“Then I will answer your original question,” she responded as she leaned against the wall behind her. “Yes, Raithe did something to me, but I don’t know what it is. I only know that I need to protect you and stay by your side. I thought it might mean that I would become one of your lovers as well, but I see that isn’t the case.”
“I’m sorry if that disappoints you,” I said, unsure of how she really felt behind the mask she was keeping up. “None of what’s happened to me has been by choice, but the four of them have completed me, and I’m unwilling to upset the delicate balance that we’ve achieved.”
“You’ve told me more than you needed to, Dreya,” she replied candidly. “So, I’ll return the favor.”
“Insleí is dead; you helped me kill her,” she held my gaze with her blue-grey eyes as she continued. “But I retained all her skills, and her memories. All of them, including how you broke her. I remember how it felt when you snapped her bones,
and I remember the other things you did to her as well. It’s those other things that still come back to me at times.”
“You’ve said your relationships aren’t just for pleasure, and that there’s no place for me in your bed, and I can accept that. But should either of those things ever change, know that I’m willing to try and find my place with you.”
“I can’t promise you anything, Saibra,” I returned her candor. “If I’ve learned anything at all, it’s that very little of my life is under my own control. Fate has determined more for me than I have; I’ve had little choice in nearly all of it.”
“Fair enough,” she smiled at me somewhat strangely. “We’ll leave it to fate then.”
After our conversation, I was more aware of how I acted around Venna, Líann, and Ella. I would often catch myself looking at one of them fondly, and if Saibra was present, I would cast a glance her way as soon as I did. She would simply shake her head at me in response, letting me know that she’d caught me once again. But then sometimes, with increasing frequently, when we’d leave a meeting where one of them was present, Saibra would let me know that I’d managed to completely conceal my feelings.
My uncomfortable conversation with Saibra was a somewhat mixed bag. She had managed to uncover my secrets, just as Thelmé had, but was willing to keep the matter private for me. Her other… disclosure was a bit more disconcerting. Saibra seemed to be content to stay near me, to bide her time as Líann had once told me she would. But unlike Líann, Saibra never pushed or tried to force the issue. She simply did her job and protected me as she always had, and I was grateful for that. In spite of her past life, Saibra was a pretty woman, with steely blue eyes and dark blond hair that was somewhat uncommon among elves, and a lean, hard body that came from years of dedication to her craft. Were I even slightly open to tempt fate, I probably would have taken her up on her offer. Unfortunately, my plate was rather full, and I knew better than to take on any more, so I let things lie and moved on as if we’d never had the awkward discussion.
The only other development of note during that otherwise calm period was my relationship with Líann. We’d started off on a rather strong note, and things only got more intense from there.
Líann’s need to have me display my power over her was like a fire that seemed to only grow hotter as we continued to feed it. She constantly pushed me, and provoked the darkness inside me, driving me to explore the increasingly dark shadows inside me. I have to admit that some of the things I did to her were unsettling to me at first, but I could feel her craving every bit of my shadows. I knew deep inside that she needed me to act on my dark impulses, and that in doing so, I was reducing the power that they held over me. Letting my shadows run wild set me free from them, ensuring that they could not take hold of me without my consent. Over time, Líann became my own dark mirror, letting me see into the shadowy pit of my soul; gaining control over my darkness as I did. And I loved her deeply for it.
Once we’d secured our alliances with the other Realms to the east of the Imperial District, I turned my attention to the horse lands north of Ashton.
The two Kingdoms of Hygan and Zonnia were nearly alone among the Realms in their overwhelming reliance on their cavalry. Although there was a wall of mountains on their western borders and slow, rolling hills to the south, their lands had a great deal of open plains, and they used this to their advantage. Both bandits and raiders from the Dark Lands fell beneath the trampling hooves of their massive warhorses.
That cavalry would be an invaluable addition to the Imperial Army, so I sent an Ambassador to each of the Kingdoms to establish relations and offer them a place in my Empire. I hoped they would see the wisdom in joining my fight against the Dark Lands, but those hopes were tragically misplaced.
My Ambassadors came back more than empty-handed. In an act of utter barbarism, the Kings of the horse lands returned the heads of the two men I’d sent to them in feed bags, a gesture that I was told meant that their bodies had been left in the wilds for the animals to pick over. In addition to the desecration, the Kingdoms sent a copy of the alliance they’d formed, practically daring us to respond to the outrage they’d committed against my Empire. It was a challenge that I could not ignore.
I’d been called to the Garrison to receive the ’message’ they’d sent, and as soon as I saw what they’d done and read the thinly veiled threat of their alliance, I turned to Evans who was standing by my side and gave him one simple order before I headed back to the Palace.
“Mobilize my Army, First Marshal. It will be going off to war, and I intend to lead it.”
Word of my intentions spread like wildfire, and people and messages flooded into Talína and my other aides’ offices in response. While they dealt with it all, I hid myself away in my own chambers and considered the war I was about to embark on.
Death and slaughter—I was about to kill a great number of people who should be fighting beside me, not against my Empire. It troubled me greatly that things had come to this. While it wasn’t realistic to assume that everyone would simply yield to me, the depraved manner in which the two Kingdoms had responded to a simple diplomatic overture was disturbing, and I simply could not let it stand.
As I pondered things, the door to my room opened, as I knew that it inevitably would. The only thing I’d wondered was who would be the first to visit me after I’d effectively declared war. Only a handful could make it past the guards outside, but I was shocked to see that it was none of the ones I expected that stepped inside my chambers.
“You may think to show restraint in an effort to spare lives, but this will only give your enemy hope and prolong things,” Saibra spoke to me plainly just a few steps away from where I sat. “If you truly care about saving lives, you must crush them—show them no mercy and hold back nothing when you attack. Only once they know that they cannot withstand your fury will they surrender and end this conflict.”
“At what cost?” Was my simple reply.
“That is not up to you,” she responded flatly. “It is up to them. All you can do is make them pay the price they require to submit.”
With that last comment, she inclined her head slightly and departed. Saibra was often like that—abrupt, to the point, and then gone. It was an odd quality, but I’d gotten used to it and her other eccentricities over the last few months. And as I considered her advice, I could find little fault with what she’d said.
I considered things a bit longer, and when Tási strode in a short while later, I held up my hand to forestall her before she had a chance to speak.
“I’m not going to do this one by one,” I told her. “Please call the entire council together, and we’ll discuss the matter thoroughly.”
“Easy enough,” she smirked back at me. “They’re waiting for you in our usual meeting room. You’d know that already if you’d given me a chance to speak.”
“Sorry,” I apologized somewhat meekly. “I appreciate how well you anticipated my needs.”
“Yeah… well… that wasn’t me,” she reluctantly admitted.
That wasn’t really surprising. Even though she was still young for an elf, Líann had already been Queen for over a century. She’d more than likely seen her share of conflict and perhaps even war during that time. I should have known that for certain, but the subject of war had yet to come up during any of the regular council meetings, and the weekly ‘talks’ I had with Líann involved very little actual conversation.
“Believe it or not,” I replied to Tási. “The two of you are on the same side.”
“I know that,” she smiled back at me with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like the perfect little elven… Queen.”
“I swear, the two of you are like children sometimes,” I sighed as I started towards the door.
“Wait, you mean she’s jeal… she doesn’t like me either?” Tási replied with disbelief.
“We’re about to go to war, Tási, and you’re worried about this?
”
“Sorry, let’s go,” Tási deflated as I glared at her.
Just before we stepped out of my rooms and into the antechamber where we were immediately surrounded by a double detail of my guards, I whispered into Tási’s ear.
“Yes, she’s jealous of you too.”
Tási almost missed a step, and despite the grave mood, I couldn’t help but smile as she caught herself. The two of them were almost complete opposites, and the less-than-subtle jabs they constantly threw at each other when they were with me were becoming more and more irritating.
Saibra and Karina led me through the crowd that had gathered in the room I’d come to simply refer to as ‘Talína’s offices.’ She’d taken a firm hold over all my affairs and my other aides as well, turning the running of my Empire into an incredibly smooth operation over the last several months.
“No more, Tási,” I said to her, using the din of the packed area to mask my words. “You don’t have to like her. You can hate Líann for all I care, but I don’t want to hear about it anymore. I wish the two of you could get along. Despite your differences, you have a great deal in common in some ways. But I guess that sort of tranquility isn’t in the cards for me.”
“I’ll try,” Tási replied, obviously reining in her objections.
I knew how difficult holding back her long-standing resentment was going to be for her, so I respected her honesty, both spoken and unspoken.
I followed along as my guards led the way down to the spacious room we used for our regular council meetings. Líann and all of my Ministers were already in their usual places so once Tási and I had taken our seats, I began the discussion.
“We are going to war,” I stated firmly. “This discussion is about how we wage that war, and nothing else. I intend to utterly destroy those who committed the atrocities against the representatives of my Empire and set a stark example to dissuade anyone tempted to commit a similar act of barbarity in the future. Now that I’ve made myself clear, how do we make this happen?”
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