“All the lands have not been idle,” King Arrok stated. “All of us have been preparing against such a thing. But it still goes hard, knowing what will come.”
“You must band together,” Naero said. “That is your only chance. You must join the alliance with the Maedo and the Kall.”
“Even so, we are still outnumbered,” King Arrok said. “The Vaedo have been experts at playing all sides against each other. I think that has been their greatest power.”
“Then strip it from them,” Naero said. “Deny it to them. Only together can you survive. Once Vaedor has been defeated, and the golden dragon emperors are no more, then you can live in peace. This war must be fought; nothing can be held back. If not for your sakes, then for the sake of all your peoples and your children. You know very well what the golden dragon will do to them.”
A fire suddenly awoke in the eyes of the King and Queen.
It was the warrior queen who spoke first and fiercely drew her sword. “By the gods and all light, we shall fight them. They will need to cut every drop of blood from my body before I let those murderous wretches lay their bloody hands upon my fair ones!”
The king rose up and kissed her, wrapping her up in his big arms.
“My beloved, warrior maid. You won my heart that day long ago, when we fought back-to-back against the foe, until we two alone stood victorious. So we shall stand once more! They will not have us, nor our babes. We shall fight to the last!”
When their blood had cooled, they sat down at the table.
“What help can the gods give us?” the king asked. “Is there anything they can do?”
Fu-han knitted her fingers and spoke. “Forgive us, Your Majesties. The gods sent the mediator to attempt to broker a peace. Unfortunately, there is none to negotiate. The Vaedo are bent upon war. The gods do not interfere in such human matters.”
“Unfortunate, but true,” the queen said. “These are mortal troubles that mortals must resolve. This is our world, and we must make of it what we can. We must fight for it. We thank the holy ones and the gods for what they have attempted.”
Naero spoke, staring hard at the Changs. “No good will be served, however, if the Vaedo crush everyone else. The emperor even means to kill off all the holy ones. If the gods allow us to do so, the holy ones might be able to provide information that might be of use to the allies.”
The king nodded. “That is something at least. We would be grateful, for any help or advice.”
Fu-han and Lijuan stared back at her impassively at first.
Then they nodded their assent.
A Vaedo victory would not be good for anyone involved.
King Arrok rose and put his hand to his sword and the other to his broad belt. “Let word go forth then, for the final preparations to be made, for as long as we have to make ready. War is coming. These grim matters will be decided within a short period of time–one or two years at best. The fate of our world and all or our peoples now rests within our hands. That is perhaps as it should be.”
Later that night, Princess Iiden went out alone to the great shore of stars. First she wept bitterly in great anguish. Next, Iiden sang to the stars. Then she turned and sang to the forest, like a small jewel in the night.
Naero watched over and protected her. Fixers kept watch all around.
No harm would come to that child, even if the Vaedo brought forth an entire army.
Shetanna stood ready in the night to make certain of that.
At last, Sister Naero came forward.
“Whom do you call to in the trees, Princess?” Naero asked her.
Fair Iiden started at first, and then ran to embrace her.
“It is from a legend of far off Nashara, where the queen of the unicorns is said to rule in harmony and wisdom. In those legends, our world was threatened by war, and monsters, and demons–much as it is now, I suppose. A young human queen–no older than I am–sang to the forests, and called forth the unicorn queen. Together, by their wisdom an courage, they helped their peoples rise above every threat, every challenge and peril, to make their land a paradise.”
Iiden sighed. “I know…I’m just a silly little girl, wishing for something to exist that does not.” She sighed so deeply.
“But I’m old enough to know what is really coming–our own demons, that we have made, are coming for us all, and they shall do their worst. I fear war and its terrors. I’m afraid, Sister Naero. I have no wish to be raped, or burned alive, or murdered, along with all that I love. I just wish that the other parts of the legends were true as well, and that the forces of light would come to help us, and give us their courage.”
Naero took Iiden’s hands and held them. “Iiden, you and your people have that courage. You are a force of light for your world and your people. You are a living, breathing angel of your people. If anyone ever deserved the unicorns of Nashara–from your age of legends to come to them–it is you. Be brave, young princess. You and yours and your deeds of valor shall write the legends of tomorrow–legends that shall live on and inspire others, far into the futures of your peoples. This is the blood you come from; I have seen it. These troubles that lie ahead are not the end. They cannot be. Fight! Don’t let them triumph.”
Iiden bit her lip. “I’m still just a girl. If I am to face all of these terrible things, I wish that I could see a real live unicorn…or an angel. Just one. Just once.”
Naero stroked Iiden’s shining hair under the starlight. “May your heart’s wish be truly fulfilled one day, child of light. Keep the wonder that is in your kind and gentle heart. Let it burn bright. Defend it! When all is done, many will have great need of your beauty and wonder, to guide them out of the darkness and terror that lies before you all.”
21
Naero returned and made her final report to the High Masters.
It was necessary for her to stand before them and discuss her failure at being a mediator.
Master Jo was the only one who seemed to come away with a positive take on the entire situation.
“High Adept Maeris…there was not much chance of you succeeding at your mission going in. This war was probably inevitable. Yet thanks to you, the other three city states will go into it allied together, and not just picked off one at a time, or used against each other.”
Naero shook her head. “It is still going to be a very terrible war for the locals. I wish I could have prevented it.”
Master Vane, of course, burst out laughing. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, Maeris, but you surprised me. I thought for certain that you were going to lose it and just start killing and slaughtering people left and right. What happened? Why didn’t you?”
Naero felt her anger rise. “I still might do just that!” she added.
Master Tree raised both hands. “Let us hear no such talk. Do not bait her, High Master Vane. And High Adept Naero Maeris, do not allow yourself to be baited. In fact, I must commend you, Naero Maeris, on controlling what you think you should do with being obedient to our will. You have eschewed violence, when it would have been both tempting and expedient to rely upon it. You passed the tests we set for you.”
Vane grunted.
“For the most part,” Tree continued, “you refrained from killing anyone. That was good progress, as we see it.”
A cold chill shot through Naero. Was Master Tree right in a way? Was fighting, violence, and killing her natural solution to everything?
Om…am I really like that? Am I a killer, who only seeks to solve my problems by killing?
No. You are an honorable warrior, Naero. One who has been forced to defend yourself and you people. Yes, you have killed. Most of your enemies required killing.
Most, Om? Just most?
Can we ever speak in absolutes either way, Naero? The universe is such a messy place.
Naero bowed her head. It is indeed, Om.
“Well, that is all finished and done with,” Tree said. “There’s no need for you to go among the natives any longer. No
w we can concentrate on studying your expanding powers and the other matter at hand.
Tree wouldn’t mention the artifact statue directly.
Naero still felt the need to protest.
“But…I want to find out what happens to them all. I don’t just want to abandon them.”
Tree raised a disapproving eyebrow. “Why not? What does it matter? Read the reports after the fact. Adepts Fu-han and Lijuan will see to them. The natives are their little project, not yours. Come now, a few weeks ago, you didn’t even know anything about these natives. Do not let sentiment distract you from the very important matters at hand. Are you really going to sacrifice all of your goals and your people for a few backward savages, on some nameless mud hole?”
Naero knew Master Tree very well by now. Order above all else, even fairness and justice. In his own way, Master Tree was just as cold and heartless as Master Vane. Vane was simply more brutally honest and open about his callousness. Or maybe she was the one that was unenlightened. In his own way, Master Tree was also right. Naero couldn’t really change things either way for the Thanorans. Why worry about it? What was happening here that wasn’t happening across countless worlds among all the possible universes and realities? Struggle, war, aggression–competition for resources–life and death.
Perhaps she merely had to have more stoic faith in those outcomes, tending more toward Order than destructive Chaos.
Yeah, who was she kidding. Like she could do that?
They dismissed her. It was getting late, but Master Jo pulled her aside at the last moment.
“Naero. I’ve been having very troubling Cosmic dreams and visions of late. Have you as well?”
She went on a hunch. “Let me guess–about dragons?”
Master Jo grinned. “I had a feeling we might be on the same wavelength. What have you been experiencing?”
“I keep seeing these enormous dragon creatures–an entire army of them–attacking our worlds, systems, and fleets. They seem almost unstoppable. There aren’t any reports of anything like that anywhere?”
Master Jo shook his head. Naero was always relieved that he was the one High Master who was shorter than her.
“No yet. If we had any reports like that, Naero, we would be at war with the creatures by now.”
“Are we seeing a vision then? Something that might happen in the distant future?”
Master Jo stroked his dry lips as he stretched them. “It doesn’t feel like that–more urgent–like a looming threat. The High Masters and I can’t put our fingers on it. You and I and a few others are all seeing something similar–including your brother and your aunt. We are seeing these things for a reason.”
That surprised Naero. Aunt Sleak was having the dragon visions as well?
“I agree, High Master,” Naero said. “It seems to be some kind of growing warning–the sense of urgency is increasing–but we don’t understand what form it is taking, or what it means. What are these visions trying to tell us about these creatures? Are they literal beings, or representative of something?”
You need to tell them the little that we know, Naero.
I agree Om. I just have to figure out how to word it.
Naero cleared her throat. “The Kexx fought such Cosmic monsters long ago. They were called the Kahn-Dar. Like their allies, the G’lothc, the Kahn-Dar were Cosmic shapechangers, and could assume various forms–including the huge, Cosmic energy dragon-forms they used in war. The Kahn-Dar were not only from another galaxy–but came from many other dimensions as well. They could gate, or travel between gates, other planes, galaxies, and dimensions–almost at will.”
Master Jo’s face suddenly grew slightly pale and concerned. “You have access to the lore of the Kexx? Why have you not spoken of this before? This could prove vital.”
Naero held up both hands in defense. “I have only just begun to learn the complex Kexxian language, High Master. The vast majority of the KDM–by far–is still a mystery to me and my limited mind. But I have seen glimpses of many things. In the great war with the formidable G’lothc, the Kexx and the Drians also fought and defeated the Kahn-Dar. Now it seems that we will need to fight these creatures at some point as well–perhaps sooner than we think.
“We have already fought the Dakkur. They were allies with the Kahn-Dar. My guess is that a remnant of both races survived that ancient war, and are now attempting to increase their numbers, utilizing G’lothc Darkforce tek too become the new masters. Minion races like the Ejjai are mere slaves compared to them. The Ejjai already refer to them as their masters.”
Master Jo shook his head. “And here we had our new Mystic Enforcer out scouring our systems for any sign of these creatures. Perhaps we should call him back here, if we think an attack is imminent. The Mystics created him and the first of his Cosmic swords to help stand before such threats as this.”
Was Master Jo talking about Khai? A sudden thrill rushed through her at the prospect of seeing her old friend.
Master Jo continued thinking out loud, as he often did. “His powers would be a great help, in fact. And who knows how the ancient artifact statue will fit in with all of this, if it is indeed Kexxian? There remains far too much that we do not know or understand.”
Naero lifted both of her arms in frustration and let them flop back to her sides. “I know. I constantly feel that way. I’ve even had a few visions where the Kahn-Dar are attacking the statue directly, like they are trying to devour it, or absorb its powers, somehow. None of it makes any sense!”
Master Jo’s mouth fell open and his face grew very pale. “Naero,” he said. “No one else has reported such a thing.”
“What?”
“No one else has had a vision of the dragon creatures and the artifact statue together in the same dream, fighting each other at the same time. You are the only one.”
The ramifications of that began to soak in. “Oh…crap,” Naero muttered.
“Naero. I want to try something in order to gain more information. Allow me to mindlink with you, and let’s take a quick little journey.”
“Where are we going?” For a minute, she was afraid he was going to suggest they go visit the artifact statue.
“Let me explain briefly. Of all the High Masters, I am the Traveler–the one who can see and pass into the other planes, dimensions, and realities–almost at will. I can key on your mind and your visions, and use them to attempt to pinpoint where they came from.”
“You can…trace them back to where they came from?”
“I can try, but it takes enormous quantities of Cosmic energy to do so, even for a few moments. I will set us on a loop, but I may very well pass out from the stress, and the extreme exertion. Don’t worry. If I do black out, we will automatically sweep back and return here, to our own place and time. We might see nothing at all. Yet, we might see something elsewhere that will give us clues as to what we might expect. But just because something happens one way in one possible dimension, it does not mean that it will happen that way exactly in another, or at all. There are so many variations and variables possible. So much that we Mystics still do not know.”
Naero smiled. “And here I thought the High Mystics knew it all.”
Master Jo shook his head vehemently. “Oh, Naero. There is so very much to know in even one universe such as ours–let alone an infinite number of possible realities and universes. The sheer magnitude of it all is beyond all words and all the known systems of thought. To speak the truth, all three of us High Masters are like ignorant children, laughing, crawling, and muttering in the grass at night, trying to comprehend the mysteries of the stars above us. Even arrogant Master Vane is stupefied by the immensity of it all; it is truly humbling. I cannot tell you how numb with fear we are at times, frightened by all that we do not know–and perhaps never shall know.”
Naero chuckled. “Ignorance recognized is the beginning of wisdom,” Naero said.
“Wisdom from the Clans?” Master Jo asked.
“A Kexxia
n proverb, I’m pretty sure,” Naero said.
Master Jo blinked. “Then the ancients won’t mind if I borrow it from them. I like that very much. Are you ready for our mindlink and the dimensional sweep attempt? It won’t take long. We’ll just see brief glimpses here and there, if anything.”
Naero took a few deep breaths and centered herself, not knowing what else to expect. “I’m ready,” she said at last.”
Master Jo’s third eye opened, blazing with golden power.
Naero’s third eye–shifting red, blue, and violet–sprang open wide as soon as he laid hands upon her face. Naero shuddered as his power rippled through her body, mind, and soul.
To her surprise, the both of them instantly transformed into either energy beings, or spirit forms on the Astral Plane.
To Naero, it seemed as if they rose up high into the air suddenly, as everything else–including the stars, flashed and whirled around them.
Then they reached a point or spot where they did not seem to move any further, and stayed in one place, while everything shifted and flashed around them.
Realities and dimensions pulsed past them, and all they could do was look on and try to see what they could see.
Master Jo was correct in part. Much of the time they saw nothing.
Yet at other times they glimpsed the world of Thanor-4, in many variants.
One was scorched and blackened, all life blasted and ripped off the entire surface.
Somehow, Master Jo’s Mystic focus zoomed in.
In another variant, the artifact statue was completely gone. Deep craters of glowing Cosmic ruin, gouged thousands of kilometers into the shattered, broken planet.
In another dimension, the alien statue lay toppled and lifeless, face down, blasted and scorched–completely drained of whatever vast powers it had once contained.
Yet another showed the aftermath of a great battle. Nothing survived. Dead Kahn-Dar lay everywhere–along with burning wrecks of starships, entire Spacer Marine regiments wiped out. Not even the Mystics had been spared.
Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury Page 19
