It made him very uncomfortable to have a woman like her treat him with the respect he felt he should be showing her. He had no doubt that she had lived a lifetime before he reached the age of manhood, and she still looked younger than he. Power.
“Certainly not in your very own home.”
“You’re very gracious, your highness,” Lady Gladys smiled then her smile quickly disappeared when she turned her attention to Lord Vette, “Cosik.” She said with a simple nod, which he returned.
“You have news?” Emperor Marwood asked, “News of this infidel and his band of thieves?”
“They are not thieves, your highness.” Lord Vette corrected, “As I told you earlier, they did not steal from me.”
“As you neglected to tell us earlier, they have designs on his majesties kingdom. If that is not the very definition of a thief, then I do not know what is?” Lady Gladys looked at Lord Vette.
“What?” Lord Vette’s face twisted.
“In the outlands, well beyond Rethland, a thousand men were slaughtered. A thousand of your men, your holiness.” Lady Gladys stared at the emperor a moment, letting her words sink in.
The emperor did not think on it long.
“A thousand men? By this harlot and her, her, consort? How many men did they have? Was it death magic?” Emperor Marwood’s face changed at the thought of it.
“No, it was not death magic, my liege.” Lady Gladys assured him.
“How do you know this? How is this possible?” Lord Vette asked, he hardly believed it.
“I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The Five have been hunting this girl of yours.” She said to Lord Vette.
The Five were the five most powerful women in the order, often referred to as, The Fist, in times of war.
“We found their trail at an abandoned orc settlement, there, we also found a thousand men, dead, and burning. The Nightmare left its mark upon the land, easy enough for us to spot. It stands to reason it is the same one who attended your party, Cosik.”
Lord Vette looked down.
“A thousand men?” he pondered.
“We need to gather my generals, send more men to the area at once!” Emperor Marwood paced, he was so distraught and angry. The more he paced the angrier he became, “If you would have come to me immediately, we might not be where we are now!” he yelled at Lord Vette.
“If I may?” Lady Gladys interrupted his surge of anger toward Lord Vette, “Gentlemen,” She said raising her hand to a door on the side wall of the hallway. Neither men had noticed it until she drew their attention to it, “If you would be so kind.” She smiled at Lord Vette who was closest to the door.
He opened the door. Inside was a bedroom, a large bedroom with a woman lying on the bed. Four other women were in the room with the sleeping woman. Each turned and bowed in unison to Emperor Marwood as he entered.
“I don’t understand?” he announced immediately, confused by the scene before him.
“Do you recognize her, Cosik?” Lady Gladys asked stepping to Emperor Marwood’s side.
“What are you on about, Lady Gladys? Is this a joke of some kind?” Lord Vette asked indignant.
“Come closer, Cosik, look at her face, then answer,” Lady Gladys stepped to the edge of the bed, “Is it her?”
Lord Vette looked at Lady Gladys surprised, then hurried to the side of the bed. It was her! It was the Lady Talila Preswynn, lying in the bed, asleep. His face dropped.
“How did you…” He started in a whisper, frightened he would wake her.
“She will not wake, have no fear, Cosik, your little girl will do you no harm today.” Lady Gladys smiled, gloated more than smiled.
“You mean to say this is the one? The powerful sorceress, travelling with that infidel, that Dracon?” Emperor Marwood joined them at the edge of the bed, “Kill her. Kill her immediately.”
Lady Gladys turned to face Emperor Marwood.
“She is with child, your holiness.”
“I don’t care! Kill her right now!” Emperor Marwood reached over to Lord Vette’s waist and pulled his dagger from its sheath, handing it to Lady Gladys.
“Emperor, she is with child!” Lord Vette exclaimed and put a hand on Emperor Marwood’s arm.
“I want it known what happened here, I want this Dracon to come to me, he will-” He jerked his arm away from Lord Vette and grabbed Lady Gladys’s hand, forcing her to take the dagger.
“Look at her! She is just a girl, a girl with a child growing within her! If you do this, I will leave, the order of Efiga will leave.” She said and let the dagger fall to the floor.
“You would become treasonous against your emperor? Become an enemy of the empire for this thing!?!” Emperor Marwood pointed at Talila.
“I would protect you from your own unconscionable act!” Lady Gladys snapped back quickly, “If you are so keen on murdering a sleeping pregnant girl, it must be your own hand that commits this atrocity! I will not bear this weight on my conscience!”
“Your highness, I urge restraint here, she may be useful?” Lord Vette was almost begging.
“I agree, killing her would be shortsighted. We wish to study her, see if we can mold her, make her one of us, in turn, serve you, as we all do. This is what we agreed to when you summoned me, is it not?” Lady Gladys cocked her head and narrowed her eyes at the emperor.
Emperor Marwood thought long and hard. His face reflected his anger at Lady Gladys’s disobedience. After several minutes of quiet contemplation, all the while staring at the sleeping girl, Emperor Marwood calmed. The longer he looked at Talila, the more enamored he became with the beautiful sleeping young woman before him. He had never seen someone so beautiful. Her black hair was thick and soft, her skin was tan and her lips were full. Emperor Marwood could easily imagine how his friend, Lord Vette, had become smitten by the likes of one so fetching. He caught a pleasant scent in the air and wondered if that too was her, or one of the Ladies of Efiga who filled the room. A thought formed in his mind, one of him leaning over and kissing those full lips. In made him take a shallow inhale, just shy of a gasp. He looked up and saw one of the other ladies in the room watching him.
“Thank you, Lady Gladys. I apologize, you are right of course, your wisdom is infinite. Do you think you can control her?” Emperor Marwood asked shaking free of the trance Talila’s beauty put him in.
“We will not wake her until we are sure. Every precaution will be taken, I can assure you of that.”
“How did you come to capture her? Were there any signs of the others?” Emperor Marwood asked.
“We found her in the abandoned orc camp, already in this state, she is under our control right now.” Lady Gladys walked to a table on the opposite side of the bed. She put her hand on a purple orb that glowed to her touch, “She will not wake until I allow it.” She turned to the two men, “The others appear to have headed to a mountain, a mountain the locals call, Khu-Hua, the mountain of death.”
“Yes, I’ve heard of it. Monsters abide there. Do you think this… this… Dracon comes from the mountain? Is he a Dark Lord rallying the creatures there?” Emperor Marwood asked.
“It seems the Nightmares appearance at Lord Vette’s party was not a coincidence as I first suspected. Yes, we believe he is a Dark Lord, it is the only way to explain the arrival of the Nightmare wherever there is a trail of this Dracon. It comes to him, heeds a call only heard by creatures of evil. It will not be the last to arrive in his service. Troops are in order here, send them to the mountain, exterminate everything living. If we are unsuccessful in finding him, we will at least diminish his ranks before he can rally them against us.” Emperor Marwood nodded his agreement as she spoke. Lord Vette could not take his eyes off Talila, “Now, I believe you have suddenly become very busy, Lady Sinia will see you out, unless there is something else?”
“I wish to remain…” Lord Vette said, making Lady Gladys give him a look.
She was about to speak but Emperor Marwood was first to
do so.
“I don’t think so, Cosik!” his voice was an angry growl, “You will return with me hastily, that we might ready ourselves for battle!”
Lady Sinia walked the two men out of the room. Lady Gladys, however, remained. Lady Liana joined her side, both staring down at the sleeping Talila. Lady Liana was very tan and blonde, coincidently, all the women of Efiga were blonde and tan. Many years of living on an island with year-round sunlight. Talila too was a tanned woman, coming from Sumia, where, at one time, the sun never set. That was, until Dracon and Venalina went to Taranath and retrieved the stone that held Dhysevera’s vessel. After that, the spell was broken and night returned once again in Sumia, breaking the cycle of a day without end.
“Have you ever seen someone so beautiful?” Lady Liana asked.
“I don’t see beauty in anything other than magic.”
“That would be a serious error in judgement, Gladys.”
“And why is that?”
Lady Liana walked around to the other side of the bed from Lady Gladys.
“Did you see how they looked at her? That Lord Vette was close to throwing himself between her and the emperor, had you not stopped him. Even the emperor softened after getting a good look at her, I dare say I saw a lustful drool falling from his lips.” Lady Liana chuckled, “Why did you stop him? She is nothing to us, with child or not?”
“There is something about this girl I did not wish him to see… yet.”
Lady Gladys walked to a table near the bed and picked up a letter opener. She yanked the blankets off of Talila then picked up her arm. Lady Gladys looked at Lady Liana with a smirk, then stuck the letter opener in Talila’s forearm and ripped the blade down to the wrist. The wound closed behind the blades travel before blood could emerge from within.
“Remarkable!” Lady Liana exclaimed, “How is it possible?”
“I don’t know. But this creature is different somehow.”
“So, she was never in any danger?”
“It appears not.”
“Then why not show him?”
“Because she belongs to us. We will wield her, not him. We will discover her true nature, we will discover her weakness, then, we will make her one of us, or kill her, but it will be our decision.” Lady Gladys walked to the bedroom door then cracked it open and peaked out, when she saw Emperor Marwood and Lord Vette were not in the hall, she closed the door and turned back to Lady Liana.
“Bring me a pitcher of water and a wash basin. Let’s change these blankets.” She ordered the remaining women in the room, who obeyed immediately. Lady Gladys and Lady Liana washed Talila while the other women changed the bedding. When they replaced her nightgown with a fresh one and the bed was remade, Lady Gladys pulled a seat next to it, watching Talila closely. Her chest rose and fell, completely relaxed, sleeping, oblivious to her surroundings. Not a care in the world, so peacefully she slept.
“Of course, you sleep soundly, in the heart of a volcano you could sleep, seeing no harm can ever come to you. What do you have to fear in this world, I wonder, dear girl?” Lady Gladys asked the sleeping Talila. She pondered what other powers might lie within Talila.
“Did you feel how hot her skin is? And yet, there she sleeps, without sweating? Curious?” Lady Liana asked, standing next to Lady Gladys’s left, near the bed.
“Indeed,” Lady Gladys agreed, “What keeps such a creature so warm from within, that is not a fever? More to discover?”
“What will we do with her?” Lady Liana asked.
“If we cannot control her, the emperor would have her executed, should we find a way to do so.”
“What would you have us do? For surely such a creature would be more valuable to us, than to those outside our walls? They could never understand her as we do?”
“Our eyes see her the same way, sister, an opportunity.” Lady Gladys gave Lady Liana a quick glance and a smile, which was returned in a flash.
Chapter Twenty-Three
In the palace banquet hall of Urixis, Queen Menina was playing host to a very special, and unexpected guest, King Harold the Bold himself. Upon learning that his ambassador and his claims on the lands of Ganlin, were rebuffed by Queen Menina. He decided he had to come meet her. He travelled fearlessly across what was once the outer region, although no danger remained. He and his company of no less than five hundred men arrived that very morning, unannounced, almost causing a skirmish that would have seen King Harold the Bold dead. He was indeed bold to venture there as he did.
Queen Menina sat across the table from him, she did not see his bravado, simply stupidity, and arrogance. He was a young man, a pretty man. Never, could she imagine that the man before her, ever once, picked up a sword that was made of anything other than wood.
“I was told you had fairies, but I haven’t seen any. You do have an abundance of elves though; I grant you that.” He cut into his meat as he spoke, and in the pause, put it into his mouth, “You are a human, are you not? I can’t see your ears from here, but you do not appear to be an elf?” he asked while chewing. He looked over his shoulder at the men behind him, four of his personal guard and two advisors, none of whom sat to join them, just stood behind his highness, King Harold, “They did say there would be fairies?” he asked the men behind him.
“Yes, sire,” An older advisor answered and bowed, “Many fairies, sire.”
Queen Menina was alone at the table, other than her guards who circled the room, she was unattended.
“We have many races here in Ganlin, living side by side, in harmony.”
King Harold laughed out.
“Harmony?” he repeated, still laughing, “There’s no such thing between so many different races of creatures. Take your elves for instance, they hold things dear that humans find repulsive, your dirty little wood nymphs, flitter about in the forest, they too, have nothing in common with a human, and probably smell like the wood they’re named after. You surely make jokes for my entertainment, Queen… what’s her name again?”
“Queen Melissa, your highness.” The old man answered.
“I am Queen Menina.” She corrected; it was all she could do not to snarl at him. She forced a smile.
“Yes… Menina,” King Harold said slowly, over enunciating her name, “Odd name, I prefer Melissa. Queen Melissa.”
“King Harold,” Queen Menina said, not calling him, but saying his name as he said hers, trying it on to see if she liked it, “You’ve hardly a hair on your face, are you old enough to have hair on your face… or anywhere else?”
They looked across the long table at each other in silence. His eyes were narrowed, looking her over. He started to eat again.
“Your city is quite remarkable.” He said between bites, not looking at her, keeping his focus on his meal, “This food is divine.”
Queen Menina had very little food on her plate, in truth she was only pretending to eat, but the wine, she sampled heavily to calm her nerves. Tamina and Glyna were not allowed to join her, neither were the princes allowed to attend. She wanted to get a sense of King Harold without their interruptions, she wanted the man to be who he was without threats from her brothers or her aunt. She wanted to see how bold this king truly was. He had something, something he thought could save him from being killed by her, by her soldiers, who easily outnumbered the population of King Harold’s entire kingdom. He had something, to come and speak to her as he did, without respect or fear.
“Your ambassador mentioned you wished to annex us? Is that something you still wish to attempt? I can assure you…”
“Ah, yes, annexation.” He interrupted, “Did you know, long ago, there was a war? I mean, very long ago, when the lands were as they are now. Free of creatures in the mist, and gas, that surrounded this lush paradise. It was at the end of that war your lands were separated from the rest of the world. But of course, you know that, don’t you? How did your historians paint that picture, I wonder? Care to share a little, Queen… Menina?”
“What did you
hope to gain by coming here and taunting me, insulting me? Are you so blind to what I can do to you that you need an example?” Queen Menina asked, leaning forward in her seat.
King Harold flashed a devious smile.
“You questioned whether I had the stones to come here, a question that I needed to answer in person. I am not afraid of you, or your army, you have no friends, you do not know the world as I do. If you think you can just reappear and fight the world, you would be sorely mistaken. I alone, may not have the troops to fight you, but unlike you, I have allies. Now, posturing aside, I do not wish to fight with you.”
“Then what do you want? Why are you here?” Queen Menina said through her teeth.
“We all need friends, your highness, royalty can only truly speak with royalty. The common people do not know, or understand, the burden we bear, protecting our kingdoms, our people, our lands… our crown.” King Harold set his knife and fork down, then took a drink of his wine, “This wine is dreadful.” He said with a disappointed look at the glass, “I’ll have to introduce you to something more palatable. When your kingdom is once again mine, you will know the joys I can provide you. I think maybe you can remain a queen… under me, so to speak? Unless you prefer, concubine?”
Queen Menina could imagine Tamina’s voice pleading for her to kill King Harold and every man with him.
“Right now, I can see no reason to let you leave here alive.” Queen Menina said looking off, pondering her own question.
King Harold’s guards moved to surround him, pulling out their swords. He raised his hand, stopping them.
“Put those away.” He said calmly, still looking at Queen Menina, “Do you know what a cannon is, Queen Menina?” She looked back at him curiously, not recognizing the word, “It is a weapon that shoots an iron ball, twice the size of a man’s head.” He held his hands as though he were holding the object he spoke of, “Solid iron. It can destroy walls, an army of less than a hundred could lay waste to the largest and thickest of fortresses, never mind a delicately sculptured city such as this. On the battlefield, there is no equal, man and beast alike would be torn to shreds. I’ve prepared a demonstration.”
Dracon and the Edge of the World Page 37
