by K. E. Young
Mero's expression was enlightened. "Ah. An Edut-Naysiru. Another reason why your pendant bears a key, symbolizing knowledge and power. I'm finding your choice of a sigil more appropriate all the time."
"Edut-Naysiru?" I had no idea what that meant. It was in another language.
"It's an Atlani term. The closest translation is 'knowledge keeper' but it has nuances that 'keeper' doesn't cover such as defender, guardian, tutor, preserver, and protector of secrets. Only the most trustworthy join their ranks." He smiled cryptically. "Geran can tell you more."
His explanation did fit after a fashion. Although this Edut-Naysiru thing appeared to have more… gravity than the job of librarian holds back home, it corresponded better with how I had always thought of the field. I was positive I didn't understand the meaning, but it felt right. I finished my tea.
Mero finished his wine and rose. Dinner had ended and people were drifting out. "Please, come with me. I would continue our discussion in private."
Chapter 3
Day 4: 42nd Day of the Month of Sanctuary, 3866
I followed him out of the dining hall and back up to the third floor. His quarters were significantly larger and richer than mine, but not ornate. If anything, I'd say his tastes were almost Japanese in simplicity and elegance. He directed me to a plush chair and poured wine for both of us.
"I'll want to know more about those secret passages you mentioned in the morning. Meanwhile, I want to know more about you. By attaching you to my household, I'm extending you a great deal of trust. Trust I'm positive you warrant, but I can't prove it. I'm sorry, but as Geran's spymaster I'm in the position of needing that proof."
He had a point. What I had already shared hadn't necessarily been the most reassuring of information. "What do you want to know first? I'll answer any question you give me."
"You mentioned lock picking on the stairs."
A laugh bubbled up. "I learned when I was twelve. I had just returned from my first state-level Karate competition. Karate is an unarmed martial art. My parents had sent me to martial arts classes to learn discipline when I was younger because I kept getting into fights. Here it was years later and I still got into fights. I embarrassed them and they had forbidden me to go. I snuck out and went anyway.
"When I got home, they had changed the locks so my keys didn't work anymore. It was autumn and not quite freezing at night. They refused to open the door and let me in until I promised to give up my 'foolish pursuits'. I refused. I spent the next three days in the same clothes, sleeping in the neighbor's shed. They finally let me in when the neighbor told them he would call the police if they didn't act like proper parents. I learned to pick locks so they couldn't ever lock me out again. Besides, it annoyed my father. He was convinced I would become a criminal. I've never used it on any lock that wasn't mine without permission of the owner though. Next question."
"Three days. Are you always so stubborn?"
I gave him my biggest grin. "Yes. Next question."
"Are you married or promised? Are there any other relationships which might keep you from settling here wholeheartedly?"
"Nope. Not even close. My parents are dead. My brother has his own life. I have no husband, betrothed, or lover and damned few friends, none of them the dead body variety."
He laughed. "You had nothing to leave behind then?"
"Not even a pet."
Mero chuckled. "Do you like music? Poetry? What is your favorite color? How many other hobbies do you have and what are they? How do you handle beverages stronger than wine? Do you like it here?"
Huh. These were not the type of questions you ask when you need to verify someone's integrity, they're the ones you ask a date. "Yes, sometimes, purple, and too many. My hobbies include pottery, silversmithing, chainmail, kumihimo, reading, parkour, and rock climbing. I handle stronger beverages fine. The amount varies depending on the drink but I hate losing control so I never drink so much I get potted drunk. So far, I do like it here. I'm enjoying myself immensely despite little things such as battles and beatings."
"Kumihimo?"
"Japanese braid work. Made up of anywhere from four to a couple of hundred strands. Originally used by the Japanese to make the lacings for their weapons and armor but later extended to clothing closures, ties, decorations, and other purposes. That's how I got interested. I was helping a friend build an authentic set of Japanese armor. We had to make… well, it works out to over two-hundred man lengths of braided lacing for it, but I became hooked.
"Kumihimo was a dying art but it creates something both practical and beautiful. It would be a shame if it was lost. Braids can be round, square, flat or even wide straps. Some are plain, others are intricate, and all are practical for one purpose or another. My pattern books were part of the stuff I brought back from my Grandmother's funeral. She was keeping them for me."
"Parkour?" His pronunciation was shaky but understandable.
I laughed, not sure how he would take it. Parkour was fun, but to an outsider, it looked more like something a thief or cat burglar would need. "Parkour is the art of getting from one place to another in a complex environment such as a city as efficiently as possible. Jumping from the roof rather than using the stairs, over the wall rather than around it, across the roof rather than taking the streets. It builds muscles, stamina, and flexibility extremely well. It uses a blend of running, climbing, and acrobatics.
Mero looked intrigued. "That could be useful. Dantalion will be interested. Possibly Lord Bretisel as well and I may want a few of my agents to be trained in it. I'll see if I can arrange time for a demonstration after you've settled in. Do you play Hamsat?"
I suddenly remembered he was the spymaster. It hadn't even occurred to me that he might be looking for skills that a spy might use. Gah, pay attention Kendra, don't get distracted! He changes subjects too fast for you to let yourself get sidetracked. Hamsat. "What are the rules?"
Mero went over the rules with me. It was almost identical to a game called Pente or Go-Moku I had played in college. I told him so and he looked delighted and pulled up a small side table with a board on it. Go-Moku was simple with few rules, but the strategy could be quite complex. This game was no different.
He handed me my stones and we began the game. We spent the time between turns chatting about my youth, and schooling. The first game went to me, the second went to Mero, and the third was mine — barely. He seemed happy with the results. "You're good. You might even give Geran a challenge. Your play style is significantly different. It'll make a nice change for him. We'll try it out next time he wants a game. If he likes you, we'll add 'Hamsat proxy' to your list of duties. Some nights I simply don't feel like playing."
"Ah, the joy of delegation."
He laughed.
He seemed to have wound down, maybe this was my chance. "May I ask a few questions?"
"Of course."
I wasn't sure how to phrase it. "Dragonlords and dragons…"
He gave a small smile. "Dragonborn. Do your people have skin changers?"
Did he mean shape shifters? "No. There are legends if I take your meaning correctly, but that's it."
Mero nodded thoughtfully and crossed his legs. "There are dragonborn, dragonkin, and dragonlords. Dragonborn are all of those born with dual souls, one of a human and one of a dragon. We share the consciousness of the body with the dragon soul almost equally. The dragon's soul comes to the fore in certain situations such as combat, flying, and a few other situations where base instinct comes into play. The man's soul retains control the rest of the time, but both are always aware.
"Unfortunately, not all of those with a dragon soul can manifest a dragon form. We call those who can dragonkin. These people have additional physical enhancements in human form besides the dragon form such as added strength and endurance, more acute senses, a resistance or immunity to most poisons, and faster healing.
"Dragonlords are dragonkin nobility and royalty."
His explanation made my
flock of questions grow. 'Manifest' a dragon. What did that mean? And what did it have to do with that lovely creature I saw over the palace earlier? "I'm not sure what you mean by 'manifest'. I'm not sure it has the same meaning to you it has to me."
He looked briefly frustrated, then rueful. "I'm making assumptions again and it confuses things doesn't it? You feel so much like another Drakkeni it makes it hard to remember. Manifesting is when one pulls the dragon form out of ahaynu and assumes it like a set of clothes. The dragon form is our other self. I manifested my dragon form to fly back to the palace."
"Ahaynu? I didn't understand what he was talking about. The word didn't translate.
He snorted another rueful laugh. "Ahaynu is… otherwhere? It's a slice of… well…" He stopped with a baffled expression as if confused over how he would explain. "I'm sorry. It is difficult to explain. Ahaynu is outside this place and time. Lady Sara claims it is outside the universe itself. She calls it a 'fractal' whatever that is. I'll admit I do not even vaguely understand the term.
Wasn't that a kick in the pants? I didn't think either one of us would come up with a better explanation so I let that dog lie. Uncle Todd was the physicist, not me. "I know a little about fractals, although not enough to understand how it applies here. When you said you would have flown back with me if there had been a cloak warm enough…"
He nodded, relieved at the change of subject. "I would have carried you in my paw."
"Huh. How does that affect you? As in, how does it make you different up here," I tapped my skull, "from someone without a dragon soul?"
From his expression, he wasn't expecting that particular question. "The original dragons weren't animals. They were as intelligent as humans but less physically able to manipulate and change the world around them, so they did all of their manipulations via magic. They could see the magic, how it flowed, how their manipulation affected it and the world around them." He looked down at his hands. "We dragonkin still have a measure of that ability but not as strongly. They could see so much more than humans could. Even the souls and spirits of men. The ability to see and manipulate the web of the world gives one a strong understanding of creation and destruction, cause and effect, and the interconnectedness of all things.
"Despite their intelligence, however, they were more emotional, volatile, immersed in their instincts. It can make being a dragonkin interesting at times. The dragon souls have definite thoughts, feelings, and opinions of their own and their instincts can affect the man when he isn't paying attention."
"Were? I'm not sure I understand."
Mero looked pensive. "You need a little history. It may help you understand many things. Thousands of years ago, the Aria Atlani, which means descendants of Atlan, came to this world. They were the refugees of a world destroyed by a war between gods. In those days, those who became the dragonkin were warriors who rode their dragon partners in battle. When they arrived here, they found the Arboren. The Arboren were despots originally from the east who used the local Ansoren as slave labor. The Aria Atlani refused to bow to them and the Arboren declared war."
Mero refilled his wine cup and took a sip. "During the war, the Arboren discovered the dragons were immune to the soul and magic stealing powers of their pet demons and targeted them, the females specifically. After they killed the last female dragon, the Goddess stepped in. She did not want her dragons to disappear forever so she joined the dragons with their warrior friends. She made two into one. So it has been ever since.
"We eventually defeated the Arboren and the Aria Atlani… split. The scholars and mages settled here and forged what we now call the Mage-King Empire, but the effort to escape Atlan in time followed by the war with the Arboren affected them.
"The warriors, considered a destructive force, were a reminder of all they had lost. As a result, the warriors were no longer welcome and were treated… less than well. Their pride and the pride of their dragons would not let them tolerate such treatment, so they left and settled on a large island in the center of the Blue Sea. That island became known as Drakken. Named after the one who led them. Our first king."
Okay. As interesting as all this was, it wasn't answering my questions. I asked about psychology and he answers with history. To get him back on track, I raised my hand to interrupt the flow of information. I should have known it was in vain though. He ignored the attempt and kept on going.
The next chunk of history he threw at me was a thousand years ago. The Accuser Wars had devastated the Mage-Kings Empire. Then the Valbore had shown up. Demons created by the Accusers who slaughtered indiscriminately. The Mage-Kings had locked them away but not before a large percentage of the population was exterminated. Before they could recover, a plague called Sarath, which was lethal to Aria Atlani but not to locals, threatened the remaining Mage-Kings. To escape extermination, they migrated to a place on the opposite side of the Blue Sea now called Direnis.
Unfortunately, it didn't end there. A hundred years later, a bunch of native mages attacked the Goddess's temple, wanting to seize a powerful Atlani artifact protected by the Drakkeni. One of those mages summoned a valbore. The temple was destroyed and the artifact lost during the battle to banish the demon.
From that point on, the Drakkeni, as the only strong mages remaining, faced a summoned valbore every hundred to a hundred and fifty years — at great cost to Drakken. They had no choice because valbore never stopped until there was nothing left to kill.
Mero got angry at this point. His words bitten off, scarcely restrained. "Thirty years ago we discovered that some of the Arboren had escaped. They worked quietly in the background for centuries to regain their lost empire. The Accusers were Arboren, and we think the mages who led the attack on the temple were too. For all those centuries, they used those monsters as a tool to wipe out the ruling parties in the countries where they had once ruled before we arrived. Once their pet eliminated their competition, and the Drakkeni locked it up again, they stepped in to rule. Since they were greedy and cruel to their subjects, there were always rebellions. In each case, they would build up again, get into place, and summon yet another valbore if they couldn't gain control by other means."
That explained the anger. Drakken had been used. They had been pulling people's nuts out of the fire for centuries because someone got greedy and they weren't happy about it. For a nation founded because their pride wouldn't allow anyone to treat them like crap, it had to have been a major blow. These Arboren were complete psychopaths. How many Drakkeni had died?
"Therys was to be the final piece in their new empire. The Goddess and her brother, who is God of this world, decided it was the time for us to stop them for good.
"She brought a Nakairu to Therys named Sara. A scholar and a mage, she is more powerful than any since the Mage-Kings. She helped to trap the valbore and then destroyed it forever. In the process, she discovered the Arboren influence, and her mate, who was the spymaster for Therys, used his network of agents to identify the remaining conspirators. They wiped the Arboren out of Therys, then Derrelat and Corthis, and eventually Vallen.
"We Drakkeni are still here in Vallen because the people were none too happy with the ruling order before the Arboren took over almost sixty-five years ago and they're even less happy now. The nobility took to the Arboren ideal a little too much. We're trying to reform the country but its slow going. I'm hoping you can help."
There was an enormous amount of information to take in and it raised more questions than it answered, but it put the current situation into context. I still had too many missing pieces to put it all together though. The psychology questions needed to wait until later. I had more important questions now.
"What are Nakairu? I've been wanting to know but it's hard getting a word in to ask."
His expression of dismay almost made me laugh. "Oh, demon spit! I'm sorry, Kendra. I've been so busy trying to make sure I tell you everything you need to know, I haven't stopped to check if I missed anything. I'll try to do better."<
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Putting myself in his shoes, I realized that overall he wasn't so bad. He had just been trying to make sure I had the info I needed. He needed to learn how to stop occasionally and wait for responses though. His habit of haring off after whatever thought was floating through his head left too many questions unanswered, even if it did give you a better idea of the sheer scope of things and how they relate. "Uh huh. And did you ask Koris what you might have missed as you said you would?" I was chuckling under my breath.
He covered his face with a hand, his voice quietly aggrieved. "No."
I laughed out loud. "Tell me about Nakairu — or is it Nakairi? I've heard you use both."
He gave a heavy sigh and sat up straighter. "Nakairu is old Atlani for foreigner. Nakairi is the plural form. It refers to those brought here by the Goddess from another haven. She brings them here to perform a necessary Task that only they can do. Like Lady Sara destroying the valbore or Lady Sam closing the Demon Gate. The Goddess brought other Nakairi here for much smaller Tasks although they were equally important or she would not stir herself so."
"So this Goddess brought me… What did she bring me here for?"
Mero looked me in the eye uncertainly. "We don't know. We knew you would come eventually, but we didn't know when or where… or why."
Oh, crap. That opened an entirely different can of worms. "You knew I was coming?"
"As she completed her task, the Goddess spoke to Lady Sara. Your name came up in the conversation. I'm sure Sara will come to see you. You can ask her about it then. I haven't read the transcript she made of the conversation so I don't know the details." His mouth twisted in chagrin. "It didn't seem necessary. In hindsight, that was a mistake."
"Other havens? I'm not sure what you mean by that."
"When Atlan was destroyed, some of the refugees came to this world and others went elsewhere. The Goddess arranged for thirteen of her brothers and sisters to give haven to her children. This world is one. The world you came from is another."
