“Mkel, I know that Pekram meant a lot to you and all of Draden Weir, but I also know that since your father died, death and events such as these are very difficult for you. Just remember that emotion is our strength and in turn the strength of our dragons. Don’t be afraid to show and express it. We all grow stronger this way,” the dragonrider general explained to Mkel.
“Thanks, sir. Your sentiment is appreciated,” Mkel answered, choking back tears as they all walked back to the mountain fortress. The after-funeral gathering at the weir’s tavern was both sad and jovial, as all who started to imbibe told stories of the famous senior sergeant and laughed at his comments and the methods he used. Lawrent pulled Mkel to the side during the gathering to talk to him.
“Mkel, I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you bringing me here for the honors. My ships needed to get back to Freiland and could not be delayed anymore, but I needed to give Pekram and his family my respects. While we did not see eye to eye on everything, Pekram was indeed an outstanding leader and warrior, worthy of a raider, and I will miss him,” the tall Freiland barbarian explained almost to the point of tears, which was very unusual for them.
“I understand, my friend, and yes, he will be missed by all. Now you should be going back to your ships. They are likely halfway to Freiland by now, and if they get there before you do, half of your trade goods will be sold for your crew’s ale and women,” Mkel said with a smile to cheer up his raider friend.
Lawrent smiled back and replied, “As long as your new gorgeous dragonrider will ferry me back,” he said with his toothy smile under his reddish-blond mustache.
“I would be careful with that one; she is very good with her spear and sword and could definitely end parts of your manhood if you don’t behave. Not to mention her very protective dragon,” Mkel joked back.
At that, Lawrent gave Mkel a bear hug and walked over to the weir lake where Heathiret was standing by ready to fly him back to his ships. Mkel looked over to the images of Pekram that were being projected from many a Draden soldier’s seeing crystal and raised his tankard. “To you, my friend, may your fight in the afterlife be as good as your fight here at the weir,” he spoke to himself.
“Have no fear, my rider; it is,” Gallanth answered his rider’s thought telepathically.
The massive dark stone halls of Tiamat’s fortress in Aserghul echoed with the angry roars of the queen dragon. The Covenant and the Usurpers knew that the meeting called by the arch dragon would not go well with the news of the armada’s defeat. As Stalenjh walked from the planning rooms to Tiamat’s central chamber, he was summarizing the points of his speech; he knew he had to calm the large dragon or else someone might be sacrificed or eaten at this meeting.
“I want all to gather now!” Tiamat’s white head roared out in its shrill, reverberating tone. All four remaining Usurper dragons cautiously walked in from their attached chambers and sat at their respective places. The Talon Covenant sorcerers and their death lord knights also slowly crept in and positioned themselves as far away from Tiamat as possible, without being too conspicuous about doing so. The place normally reserved for Dreadstone and Reigngrim was empty, even Havocfire was absent, as he was still recovering from his wounds from the fight.
“Stalenjh, I want to know what happened to the armada and our dragon army!” all of Tiamat’s heads roared at once.
“Queen Mother Tiamat, while this looks like a defeat, as we said earlier, there was much accomplished in this attack,” Stalenjh tried to assuage the arch dragon’s anger.
“In what? Our armada is destroyed along with any chance of challenging the Alliance on the seas, and of the almost twelve hundred dragons we sent, only a handful have returned!” her green head angrily retorted.
“Yes, but we have for the first time successfully drawn blood on Alliance soil, taken down over a dozen metallics, and have sent a message to the weirs and the people of the Alliance that their so-called mighty dragons and riders can’t keep their enemies from attacking them in their own homes. It has also given our puppets in their senate the ammunition to set doubt in their citizens regarding the weirs’ protected status and promote dissent to further weaken them internally. This is an excellent step in our plan to draw them out and weaken them over time,” Stalenjh was doing his best to paint a more acceptable picture on this obviously crushing defeat. As Tiamat’s five heads looked at each other to assess this explanation, a large image of Michenth’s head appeared in front of the evil archdragon in a very rare communication with his former mate.
“Salutations, my mate. It has been a long time since we conversed. You look much better than the last time we spoke, as you were plummeting to the ground.”
Michenth’s words enraged Tiamat to the point of almost insanity; all five of her heads bellowed out an earsplitting combined roar. Her red dragon head then almost screamed back, “By your cursed Creator, Michenth, I will see you, the weirs and your republic burn.”
Michenth calmly replied, “Really, my mate, if this so-called attack you just launched on the Alliance is what you call a fatal strike, you are indeed losing your touch, my love. I realize the attack on Draconia was only a diversion, but truly, Queen of Dragons, six wings against two weirs and the Capital Weir sentinel This was almost an insult in its feebleness,” Michenth chided his former mate.
At that, all five of her heads roared again in total rage. Michenth ended his message with, “Better luck next time, my queen, but if you do choose to be bold again, please make it a slight bit more challenging,” and his image over the center of the circular court disappeared.
Tiamat loudly commanded to Stalenjh, the assembled Covenant, and the Usurpers, “I want Dreadstone and his commanders executed for their incompetence. The scatter-fire plan is to be implemented immediately. All rogue chromatics are to commence attacks on all Alliance territories not protected by their overshield. Their ships and any assets and allies they have are also fair game. All of the kingdoms we have under our control will also initiate any and all action against the Alliance and their allies.”
“Queen Tiamat, our plan must be executed along a strict time line, and many of our allies will be hesitant after the depth of this defeat, and as for Dreadstone and our generals, he and most of the rest were killed,” Stalenjh tried to calm the arch dragon down.
“I don’t care about their concerns. Either they obey or they will deal with me and the Usurpers, as well as the Covenant. The mongrel Arianans are to initiate fear campaigns anywhere they can. The pirates of the archipelago islands and the northern Canaris Twins are also to step up their raids and aid to the Northern Canaris tribes in their war against their southern neighbors. We need more meat and gems from them. As for the arrogant and dim-witted Kaskars, they will yield to our demands or be squeezed in between us and the Alliance. They are masters of provocation, so they can use this to our advantage. I also want an attack on the Alliance territory shield itself, as we have not tried to penetrate that magic barrier over their lands since the Great War,” she commanded.
“Yes, my queen,” Stalenjh answered sheepishly knowing that in her enraged state, she could not be reasoned with.
“Usurpers, set up the contest among the black dragons for Doomshadow’s title and power. As for Dreadstone, he is better off dead than having to face me in his dishonor. Stalenjh, I want the same type of contest for control of Dreadstone’s province, but give priority to Nozok’s sorcerers and death knights as he has been successful in battle and is to be given the chance for further reward with the fresh blood on his hands,” her blue dragon head crackled out.
“Yes, my queen,” Stalenjh answered. “There is one small additional issue, Queen Tiamat. As we have been focusing on primarily external issues, there have been two minor problems creeping into the empire. The believers in the Kallysh cult are gaining strength, primarily in the western provinces and the Church of the Alliance
is forming underground support all throughout the empire. We must deal with these infections with a strong hand, and I believe more sacrifice to the chromatics is in order,” Stalenjh inquired.
“The Kallysh cult is nothing but my successful experiment from fourteen hundred years ago when I put an idea in their so-called prophet’s empty but scheming head. I am the wellspring of their fervor and foolish passion; therefore, I can stamp it out as well. As for those of the Alliance brand of faith in the cursed Creator, their love of compassion, honor, truth, and love in itself sickens me. This weakness is why we rebelled against the foolish Creator, for making something so imperfect and flawed. Any of these believers who are caught will be sacrificed to my dragons, after being publically tortured and humiliated. Their children are also to be fed to my spawn as well.
“I see I have ignored the internal ruling of my empire for too long. We must keep the population immoral and emotionally dependent on me and the Covenant. This means the continual exploitation of the children of the talking monkeys to perpetuate this dependency. This is the one thing that our useful Enlightened fools within the Alliance, their arbitrator friends, and the gullible idiots in their Truth Saying guilds are somewhat good at: eroding the moral base and code of the traditional Alliance citizen. Yes, because of my excessive leniency, members of the Covenant, I want you and your provincial overlords to strictly enforce the worship of the state and me under our guise of egalitarian rule. Restrict their food and seed rations, and increase their tithing for the benefit of the state where you deem necessary. Mandatory sacrifice and the subjugation and suppression of the women and children are to remain the staple of the empire, along with the eradication of these false religions,” Tiamat’s heads alternately spouted out her orders.
“Subjugation of even the human women is somewhat irresponsible, Queen Tiamat,” Yveshra spoke out, the only one in the large chamber to do so, a fierce look of discontentment in her opaque eyes beaming from her midnight-colored skin.
“It doesn’t matter with these hairless monkeys, for they are no more than sheep, cattle, and pawns. As for the drow, you and your insect queen control your males with a force stronger than spider silk. Are there any more foolish comments?” Tiamat’s blue head crackled out. “Good I am hungry, and you are all to leave at once. Usurpers, ensure through our dragons that my edicts are carried out in all the provinces,” Tiamat finished as wagons of bloody meat and fresh sheep and cattle began to roll in from the far chamber, with the herd of children dressed in white not far behind them. The Usurper dragons and the members of the Covenant had their orders now. Any modification of her orders would not happen today, and likely not at all. All five of Tiamat’s heads had agreed on this course of action, so modification or convincing her otherwise would be very difficult, even for Stalenjh. The Talon sorcerers and death knights looked at each other as they quietly and quickly exited Tiamat’s chamber.
“Prefect, how are you going to manage this complex plan without the proper time and resources to arrange it?” Vorten asked his master.
“It will be very difficult, but just as important is to position others to blame along the way in case of failure. You must always be prepared to let others fall on your sword in the event of a plan going astray. We will also yoke the greed and malevolence of those kingdoms that Tiamat mentioned as well as many others. Their faults are our strength, as well as our ability to sacrifice them and even our own chromatic dragons to weaken the Alliance,” Stalenjh quietly answered. “Tiamat will see that our own population is kept ignorant and immoral, as well as being reliant on Aserghul for their basic needs. This dependency makes them much easier to control. The chromatic dragons are not the only ones who know how to herd sheep, and sometimes the weasel can beat the wolf by outsmarting it,” Stalenjh explained to his apprentice as they walked into his laboratory and chambers.
Ashram quickly walked down the long winding stone staircase to the ground level of the massive black fortress. He had to pause, for he was very winded and a growing hunger was slowly overtaking him. It was as if he had to fight for each breath. A deep yearning inside him was causing his distress. He moved as fast as he could behind the jutting corner of the five-pointed structure and whispered into his dark crystal. “Lodar,” Ashram called his senior death knight.
“Yes, Lord Ashram?” the scarred and weatherworn face of the death knight appeared over the sorcerer’s staff.
“My plan worked somewhat well. Dreadstone and Reigngrim were killed in the invasion along with Doomshadow. His lead dragon Havocfire did survive but barely, allowing almost a whole wing to be sacrificed so he could teleport away from the metallics,” Ashram wheezed his statement quietly.
“I have also heard this, my liege, but you have now confirmed it. This will ease the tension along our provincial boundaries for a while. At least until their replacements can win the tournament for control of the Northern Province, and even then, they will be of less power than us until they gain more experience. We can’t vie for control there?” Lodar asked.
“No, Tiamat gave priority to Nozok due to his easy victory over the Arianan city his army and Tbok razed,” Ashram explained.
“That was too easy a victory. If he had faced the Alliance as you had, it would have been a different outcome. I say we challenge the winner of the succession tournament,” the death knight replied, very irritated.
“No, for now, with our army and dragons still rebuilding their numbers and strength, and with Tiamat now pushing her agenda on the destruction of the Alliance, it is the wrong time. Dreadstone and Reigngrim are dead and with them went the strongest challenge to our province. Now is the time to lay low, rebuild, rearm, and wait for Tiamat’s plan to unravel. Then we will move in to pick up the pieces and challenge Stalenjh,” Ashram explained as his breathing became more difficult.
“Having a little trouble, my lord?” Lodar said with a sarcastic smile on his face.
“Nothing I cannot cure myself, arrogant death knight,” Ashram spat back, very irritated. “Is the sacrifice ready for me upon my return?” Ashram laboriously asked.
“Yes, my liege, the girl is ready to be sacrificed for your first blood meal. Your dark crystal continues to draw your life force away, so you should make haste in returning. I venture Infernex is ready to convey you home since you weren’t strong enough to ride your nightmare and use your dark crystal to teleport,” Lodar answered his master’s question but gave a slight twist to let Ashram know that while subservient, as senior death knight and overlord, he too was powerful in his own right and could be a threat to the sorcerer if the need arose. Ashram’s gradual conversion to an undead lich was moving at a faster pace especially after the last two battles and the extensive use of his dark crystal sorcerer’s staff. It was draining his life force, and he was almost to the point that only the drinking of fresh human blood could sustain him. Elf, unicorn, and dragon blood would perform this task better but were much harder to obtain. However, even this gruesome practice only delayed the inevitable result of the sorcerer becoming a vampire like lich, still powerful, but almost too hideous to behold. Ashram’s days were now numbered.
After such a sad occasion for the weir—having to bury one of their honored servants, soldiers, leaders, and warriors such as Pekram was—like the sun rising after a bad night’s storm, Silvanth’s egg was now about to hatch. Mkel walked from his chamber to the edge of Gallanth’s ledge to see the huge gathering of dozens of dragons assembling and thousands of people within Draden Weir. There had not been this many dragons in the weir since his bonding, and even then, the crowd wasn’t nearly this large. Draden had been hit the hardest by the Great War with all three of its wings decimated. Only Gallanth and Silvanth had survived the fight at Battle Point, and even then both of their riders were slain.
A good percentage of all the dragons of the Alliance were at Draden, well over one hundred and fifty. The weirs still had to be maintained with
a certain complement of dragons, and many were still recovering from their wounds from the recent fight.
Mkel walked down the long stairwell to the ground level, but moved in the passages around the landing to his council room where the candidates were being prepped. He didn’t want to get bogged down in conversation until after the ceremony. The long walk around the landing took him a while, but he hadn’t been in these corridors for some time. Lit by lighting crystals, these passageways were usually meant for traffic to get to the large back rooms that held the weir’s stores and supplies. As he emerged back onto the landing from the corridor, he noticed the crowd had grown to almost two thousand. Mkel also noticed several dignitaries and Admiral Zewal and his family as he walked into his council room complex. “This is a huge turnout,” Mkel said to Jodem, who was in the center of the large room eating some of the snacks that were on the center table. “But then, it is the first gold dragon hatching in some time, and after the events of this year, especially on the winter solstice, a birth of light is a welcome event,” he added.
“Yes, indeed, a good end to a troubled year; however, the weir did do its fair share for the cause. We defended Battle Point, our weir, the Alliance itself, and the cause of light against pretty staggering odds, and sent many a powerful foe to their judgment,” Jodem said with a smile as he was eating a couple of small snacks from the tray on the meeting table, and then took a long drink from his tankard.
“A little early for ale, isn’t it?” Mkel asked his mentor.
“It’s just halfling sweet juice, Mkel. There will be plenty of time for ale after the hatching and bonding,” Jodem replied with a smile on his face and his mouth full.
“Speaking of bonding, Captain Vicasek, you look exquisite in the ceremonial bonding dress,” Mkel introduced his friend Vicasek as she walked in from the back of the adjoining room.
Dragon Alliance Dark Storm : Dark Storm Page 62
