Mkel’s sword slowly pulled itself out of its scabbard at his waist and turned itself around and into his hands. Mkel did not know what to do, for he was experiencing intense anger at Howrek but remembered all the times they had spent together and their friendship.
“No, sir, please, I beg you for my life,” Howrek pleaded, tears still running down his face. Mkel raised the mithril sword and could even feel it call for justice, wanting to seek the lieutenant’s blood. As he delivered the overhand down stroke, something made him pull back, tell Kershan only to injure the fool and not seek his life. Mkel could feel the blade pull back from his reach, which resulted in him splitting Howrek’s nose, lower lip, and chin. The lieutenant knelt down both in agony and relief that the blade didn’t sever his skull.
“Sir, he deserves death for what he’s done.” Toderan broke the silence.
“I know, but his actions were against me, and it is my choice. I just can’t bring myself to execute him. But you don’t deserve much better for your betrayal, so I sentence you to the wilds of Southland. Heathiret and Caraeyeth will take you to Lawrent, who will use you as a prisoner oarsman until at his convenience he can deliver you to the desolate part of that island if you live that long. You are hereby banished from the Alliance, never to step foot on its soil again. Now get him out of my sight and out of this weir before I change my mind,” Mkel delivered his verdict, and the three garrison soldiers immediately removed him and took him to the healing hall for his nose and then to be ferried by the copper dragon to the Freilanders.
“Mkel, he should have paid more for his actions,” Gallanth told him.
“I know, Gallanth, but it is the Creator’s way to forgive but not to forget. He will have to live with his decision for the rest of his life, no matter how long or short,” he replied.
“I have a message from Master Hestal,” Jodem said as he looked into the dragonstone on his staff. “A man very closely resembling the one that solicited the lieutenant was found murdered in a warehouse near the docks in Draconia two days ago. He was among several other bodies found in other places near the harbor or in the water, with some having either known or suspected ties to the Enlightened Party,” he continued.
“First rule of assassinations is to kill the assassin and all the loose ends or middlemen. This protects the actual planner of the evil plot,” Watterseth explained as he walked up to the group. “Mkel, are you and your family all right?” he asked.
“Yes, Chaplain, no harm done other than fear and betrayal,” Mkel answered.
“This will pass, my son; for right now, be thankful that all are well and for the alertness of your elfhound and Gallanth. The Creator was watching over you all,” Watterseth answered.
“Yes, but in the meantime, we need to investigate whether or not anyone else was involved with Howrek in this plot,” Toderan said with a concerned tone.
“There were a few others as I saw shadows in his mind, in spite of its clutter, but no specifics. The soldier from Eladran had no other information than what Howreck had. His fate will be decided by Talonth, and I feel he will fair much worse than Howreck,” Gallanth added.
General Becknor had requested Premier Reagresh call an emergency session of the senate before the weirs extracted retribution on their own volition. Jodem had told Mkel that no matter what the senate decided on today or didn’t decide on, General Becknor would lead the weirs to strike several key targets in Shidan. Hestal would take the Wizards’ Council with them, as well as many of their order. Premier Reagresh had warned the Enlightened senators at the last gathering that he would only give King Ibliss one more chance, which he threw away with his collusion with the chromatics and his support to the Blood Wolf pirates and now the Black Scarab assassins. This gathering was only a stamp of approval for the inclusion of all the Alliance military in a war that was coming whether the Enlightened liked it or not, for dragon justice was inevitable and absolute.
Senator Gindren called the senate to order with the pounding of his hammer. The great senate hall was packed with the full attendance of the senate body, the senior military leaders, the Wizards’ Council, elf and dwarf representatives, and all the weirs. This was the first time since the end of the Great War that one dragon from each weir had attended a senate gathering. This could only occur at the request of the premier, a simple majority of the senate, and by approval of the Grand Arbitrators Council, as opposed to Michenth’s three-dragon rule.
“This emergency senate gathering has been called by our premier, to whom I will now cede the floor,” Senator Gindren opened in a loud, forceful voice to set the tone of the meeting, especially for the Enlightened senators.
“Thank you for your introductions, Senator Gindren. I know you were all informed of the recent events, which include the failed diplomatic peace envoy to Shidan and the questionable chromatic attack there, the pirate and Shidanese attacks off the coasts of the weirs, the fire giant incursion and resulting large-scale and intense battle to the east of the Gray Mountains, and now the assassination attempts against our dragonriders in their weirs. I called this senate body to session to fulfill my promise of retribution against King Ibliss and the Shidanese aggression as I stated a few months ago. Now, along with the apparent Morgathian support to this aggression, and a questionable inside connection with this assassination plot, we must first send a message to the Morgathians with a declaration of war with Shidan. Their arrogance and lies have now culminated and must be answered. We must stand with the weirs and the dragonriders, for an attack against them is an attack against all of us,” Premier Reagresh opened the session.
Senator Bidenj stood up and began a counter rant to the premier’s request. “Premier, we have seen this time and time again that if we fight back or defend our so-called honor, it only provokes our alleged enemies. Why must the rest of the Alliance suffer when the intentions of these men was focused on our illustrious dragonriders?”
“This is a ridiculous statement. When dealing with bullies, either in a schoolyard or on the kingdom level, if you don’t fight back, you only encourage your enemies to behave more boldly and viciously. Passive resistance only works when you are dealing with states that adhere to the rule of law, which is basically only the Alliance, the elves, the Freilanders, and a few other select kingdoms in the Northern Ontaror Confederation. A silent protest by your so-called ‘Enlightened’ followers or Nature Purists in Shidan, Ariana, Morgathia, or even Kaskar would be met with a spear in the back or a vacation to their slave camps. Certainly, most people would rather be good than bad, but if we’re unwilling to fight that faction of men and creatures that are truly evil, armed, and determined to subjugate all others, then we face even more ferocious wars and their consequences,” Senator Zelmall angrily countered.
“If we fight as fiercely as our enemies, using their tactics, then we are no better than them,” Enlightened Senator Kushien blurted out in his normal extremist fashion.
“Did our strikes against the Morgathians at Battle Point turn us into Tiamat worshipers sacrificing children? Did our legion and the dragons crushing them at Handsdown initiate us into razing villages in the form of the Kaskars or the evil giant races? No, it did not; however, the greatest immorality is for the Alliance to lose a war or conflict, for evil and destruction would surely follow. While I know that the metallic dragons and our military always seek to be as humane as possible on the path to victory, we cannot shrink from doing what it takes to win. At present, the minute minority among the elites and the Truth Saying guilds attempt their best within the Truth in Truth Saying law to focus on all the small mistakes made by Alliance soldiers and those perceived to have been made by the metallic dragons.
“However, the compassion of the Alliance soldier and especially our dragons is well known. To deny this borders on the criminal. This misplaced focus distracts from the greater moral issue, which is the need to defeat and destroy enemies who revel
in the butchering of the innocent, who celebrate atrocities and claim that their god, be it Tiamat, Kallysh, or whatever, demands more blood. To blame this on the Alliance is ludicrous, for there has never been a free republic declaring war on another free republic or kingdom. These things do not happen, or do you deny history?” General Becknor rose up to chastise the foolish Enlightened senators.
“It is our support of Ian that has angered the Shidanese, the Arianans, and the rest of the Southern Ontaror kingdoms,” Senator Tekend responded to Becknor’s statement in an attempt to deflect his irrefutable logic.
“Ian is the excuse for those other kingdoms’ failures, not the reason for it. Even if we didn’t support Ian, they would still blame the Alliance for other imagined wrongs. They fear freedom above all else and our culture even more than the metallic dragons and the might of our military. They also fear the freedom we give all our citizens, even those who have not served and the freedom we give the women of the republic. All people of conscience must recognize the core difference between Ian and its neighbors. Ian genuinely wants to live in peace, while its genocidal neighbors want it erased off the face of the planet. The fact that some of the trading guilds are still allowed to make business dealings with many of those aggressive powers for gemstones and other goods greatly bothers many, but until they are proven to be more of a player in these events as of late, it will not be ceased. I do feel that many are playing both sides, however, and once that is established, they will be made to pay severe consequences,” Premier Reagresh boldly stated.
“Then it can also be said, and has been echoed by those in that region, that their problems can also be traced back to the Alliance and our imbalanced trade policies with them,” another POE senator accused.
“It is very strange you suggest this, especially since Senator Tekend’s family’s merchant company as well as several other Enlightened senators make a great deal of money from this trade. This whole premise, however, is totally false. The extremists in those kingdoms would like you to believe this, but it simply isn’t true. The decay of their once-vibrant societies began long before our trade and dealings with them or Ian. They have been on a downward trajectory for some time, and it may not be reversible. Their neglect of their own people and purposeful attempts at keeping them ignorant for the indolence of the ruling classes has led to their predicaments. They have only themselves to blame. The unprecedented prosperity the Alliance has enjoyed in the past few decades since the Second Great Dragon War has enabled us to afford many things denied to most people from all lands. But we cannot afford ignorance, and we need not be ashamed of our hard-won wealth, of which we owe much, so much, to our dragon benefactors and protectors as well as all soldiers and veterans,” Senator Santoric eloquently pointed out.
“It is sounding like we are witnessing typical Enlightened word craft in skirting the unpleasant truth, from your perspectives, my honorable POE Senator colleagues, or are you all as intellectually unarmed as you are physically since you don’t believe in the validity of the Second Article of the Articles of the Alliance,” Senator Tomsfred stated to be as sarcastic and condescending as he could to the Enlightened group of senators present.
“It is our fascination with arms that likely brought on the assassination attempt on the dragonriders. This was likely out of the fear of the overaggressive portion of our population with those who are slaves to the dragons as the standard-bearers for such barbaric behavior,” Terrjok arrogantly and smugly stated.
“Then I assume in your ignorance, you don’t know of one of our founding Council fathers, Jethram, who stated, ‘No free citizen or civilian shall be ever barred the use of arms,’ or is that also too barbaric for you, since you don’t seem to trust in the very people you represent?” Senator Santoric countered.
“I have reviewed the crystal images of this recent battle, and I must say that the weir’s new invention of these repeating crossbows is an abomination to the principle of war. Leaving the traditional valor of the sword and spear is dishonorable or unfair to the enemy,” Senator Terrjok stood up and stated to keep the debate deflected, knowing it was a stalling tactic to prevent the premier from calling a vote.
Mkel could take no more of this and had to respond, “Unfair in war? Is it unfair for the grummish and orcs to devour our soldiers, sometimes when they are still alive? Is it unfair for the Shidanese to force our merchant sailors to convert to their Kallysh religion or die? Our spears and swords tasted their fill of orc and Morgathian blood, trust me. Unfair, the only unfair and dishonorable issue here is the artificial constraints the Enlightened attempt to place on the non-weir portion of the Alliance Army and Navy to fight with one hand behind their backs. There is your dishonor. Along these lines, Senator, how does Alliance blood feel on your hands, since you denied the new dragon-skin scale armor to the non-weir Alliance Army?”
Terrjok rose from his seat, almost as if to fight Mkel. At six feet four inches tall, he towered over the dragonrider. Mkel also stood, the dragonstone on Kershan scintillating. “If you want to issue a challenge, Senator, do so,” Mkel coldly stated.
“Yes, you cowardly dishonorable Enlightened pogasch, I would dare you to accept the challenge if you could find the courage!” Bristurm stood in support of Mkel.
“Captain Mkel, Lieutenant Bristurm, stand down,” General Becknor ordered the junior Weirleaders as Mkel sat back in his seat still staring at the arrogant Enlightened senator. “However, the young dragonrider is correct. Hypocrisy and ignorance will not be tolerated with so much that was sacrificed in recent battles defending the freedom of the republic, paid for with the blood of men, elves, dwarves, centaurs, and dragons. With this, since the Shidanese assassin guilds will not fight like soldiers, they will be exterminated like insects. This will happen regardless of your vote,” Becknor warned the Senate but specifically the Enlightened members.
Mkel’s and General Becknor’s words created rumblings and rejections from the Enlightened senators and cheers from the rest of the senate. Then the Enlightened Senator Nebelon stood to speak, “Premier, Dragonriders, and esteemed Members of the Senate, I would like to first question the evidence brought against the Shidanese. This seems very circumstantial in regard to blaming an entire kingdom for what seems to be the actions of a splinter religious extremist group. The thirteen provinces should also have a say in this call to war.” This was a strange occurrence because even though Nebelon was a member of the Enlightened Party, he was from the southern part of the Talinor Province, which was not an Enlightened political stronghold and was the least radical of the bunch. Up to this point, nobody had so far even questioned the memories Gallanth displayed from the Scarab assassin. It was out of the norm for him to make such an unintelligible statement, and it didn’t seem like he even believed what he was saying either, Mkel thought.
“Senator, the evidence is irrefutable, as we have already seen. But we haven’t yet disclosed which Enlightened Party member or politician approached Lieutenant Howrek or several other of the traitors detained in the weirs. This along with their Morgathian connections will be pursued as high treason against the weirs and the republic,” Therosvet stood up and lambasted the senator. This caused an uproar in the senate with yells of “Traitor!” and counteraccusations from many senate members. The premier stood with the pounding of Gindren’s loud hammer, at which the Senate Pyramid’s sentinel let out a loud alarm. It wasn’t warning of an attack, but a forceful greeting not heard in these halls for decades. Mkel put his hand on Kershan, but the dragonstone wasn’t glowing so there was no danger. The large main doors then began to glow and slowly swing open, at which Michenth’s massive silvery white head peered through as he slowly limped into the senate hall. He moved to his traditional position at the opposite end of the auditorium from where Senator Gindren presided.
The hall fell totally silent as the arch dragon painfully lay down; all the dragons present bowed in deference to their dragon
lord. Mkel looked at Becknor, who gave him a quick smile and a nod to let him know that this was planned. “Honorable Senator Gindren, may I address the senate,” Michenth’s deep voice almost vibrated the massive stone walls of the structure. The gray-haired senator graciously acknowledged. “I am honored to be able to grace the great hall of the senate of the republic for the first time since the Great War and apologize for my absence this long time, which was due to my wounds. Unfortunately, the reason for my visit is to have the Alliance be drawn into war. The weirs and all of my brothers and sisters will strike at this evil darkness that has crept into our house like poisonous vermin and destroy them in their lair. What we ask is for a united front in this endeavor, which will be one more step in casting the shadow away from our world,” Michenth said to the amazement of all present. Most had never seen the mithril dragon much less been in his presence.
“Lord Michenth, we are honored to have your attendance in these troubled times and are comforted by your strength and wisdom. I would ask Senator Gindren to call for a vote for a declaration of war against the kingdom of Shidan and the Black Scarab assassin guild and the breaking of our current self-declared truce with Morgathia, allowing us to resume our ancient conflict with them as they have done with our republic,” Premier Reagresh firmly stated.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 48
