Shaala took several breaths as she recovered from the spell of dizziness that had followed her shock. She turned to Karn. “You felt it too, didn’t you? Did you see it?”
Karn nodded. “Yes.”
“There were thousands of them,” Shaala said, shaking her head. “Out there under those mountains. I wonder where they were.”
“Those mountains? I’ve seen them once. They’re the Ogjenskarrat. The tallest mountains in the Greater Realms. Where Himael Iljustra and his brothers tower over the land.”
Shaala frowned. “In the northern wastes? I thought nothing could live out there.”
“Apparently, the Angdar can,” Karn replied. “Come on. We’ve got to go back and warn Lady Kaolin. Now we know what’s coming.”
“A dragon,” Keld said. “And it’s in league with the Angdar.”
Karn nodded. “And it’s coming this way. However, I have a feeling there may be more of them.” He propped his elbows on the table. “Knowing how the dragons of Drach’nsvoiya think, and I believe I do, I’d say the Angdar aren’t working for them of their own volition. These dragons want to dominate. And the fact they haven’t revealed themselves yet is troubling. I don’t know how long they’ve been in the Greater Realms but if they’ve been biding their time, then it’s only because they’ve been making plans.”
Kaolin frowned. “And now they’re about to put these plans into action?”
Karn shrugged. “This vision Shaala and I had isn’t the clearest message one could hope for. But I believe it’s connected to an ability I’ve had for many years, to sense danger before it arrives. And from experience, I’ve only had premonitions when danger is imminent. If this dragon I saw was only stretching its wings, then I doubt I would have sensed anything but I did. And so did Shaala. I think you’re in danger, Lady Kaolin. You, Lord Keld and your son.”
“We can’t hide though,” Kaolin said. “Our people need us.”
“Kelahil can hide though,” Karn pointed out.
Keld leaned back in his seat, thinking it over. “Yes, you’re right,” he said. “I’ll ask Lorial if she can help. There’s no one else I’d trust more.”
“Are Derin and Ishtvan still at that village to the south?” Kaolin asked him.
“Yes.”
“All right. Then maybe Lorial should take Kelahil there, along with Zecelia of course. And if she takes Talon too, then the children will be well protected.”
Keld thought about it. He’d be sending away his best fighter as this dragon, and presumably the Angdar, and possibly more dragons, prepared their next move. However, if he wanted his son protected, then there could hardly be a better choice. And besides, when it came to defending a country against great dragons, there wasn’t a whole lot a good fighter could do anyway.
“It’s a good idea,” he agreed.
“Then we should do that right now,” Karn told them.
“And what about you and Shaala?” Keld asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we can hardly have you two somewhere where you could be easily seen. As you said, the dragons of Drach’nsvoiya want to dominate others. And I’d imagine they wouldn’t care for potential rivals. So what do you think they’d make of a pair of powerful mages like yourselves?”
“But we can hardly leave,” Karn replied. “You need us.”
“I agree,” Keld said, smiling. “But I think it may be best to house you somewhere a little farther away from us than you are at the moment.”
Lorial came to the door straightaway as she had seen Keld and Karn from the window. She had seen Karn a little earlier that day too so she had known that something was wrong. He usually only came to Orishelm with warnings and bad news.
“Keld,” she said as she opened the door.
“Lorial,” he replied and paused. He didn’t see her as much these days as they had in the past, but save Kaolin, there was no one in the Greater Realms he was closer to. Now, she was more the sister he had never had than the woman he had once wish he’d been young enough for but there was no denying how strongly he cared for her.
“Something terrible is about to happen,” he explained. “And I need your help.”
Lorial’s gaze drifted down and she saw that Kelahil was with his father.
“Hello, Kelahil,” she said, giving him a warm smile.
“Hello, Aunt Lorial,” the child replied.
“Is Zecelia in the house?” Keld asked, looking about the room.
“Yes, she’s in the other room,” Lorial replied, pointing over her shoulder.
Keld gave his son a pat on the shoulders. “Kelahil, why don’t you go and play with Zecelia for a little while? Aunt Lorial and I have some things we need to discuss.”
“Okay, Father,” Kelahil said and left the room.
“Where’s Talon?” Keld asked once Kelahil was gone. “Is he at home, do you know?”
“He should be,” Lorial replied.
“Wait here with Lorial, Karn,” Keld said to the mage standing behind him. “I’ll be back soon.”
With all the arrangements that had to be made, night had fallen by the time Karn was able to contact Morgiana. However, Kalishar, Ensari and Cirreone were soon alerted to the threat.
V. The Demands
Zecelia seemed unhappy about having to sit behind Kelahil on their mare, Lorial thought. Sure, he’d be the lord of Arahir one day if their fledgling country survived whatever was about to happen but he was a whole two years younger than her daughter and so Zecelia thought it unfair that he got to hold the reins. However, Kelahil was the better rider and that was that.
Lorial shook her head. For a moment, she smiled and then it faded.
“They’ll be all right,” Talon told her, sensing she was worried about Keld and Kaolin.
Lorial sighed. “Will they? I don’t know what’s going to happen, Talon, and that’s the part that scares me. It makes me almost miss the days when Strahd’s lieutenants were still commanding the Angdar. At least they were predictable.”
“True,” Talon agreed. “Although, to tell you the truth, I’m glad I was young enough to miss the worst of that war.”
“Pity you don’t have the same excuse now,” Lorial said, although she almost swallowed her words right after she said them. With Kelahil and Zecelia having to flee the city, even though they didn’t know what was happening, she realized that being too young to be involved in something like that was no guarantee of safety.
“Are you enjoying yourselves back there?” she called out to the children, hiding her anxieties.
“Yes! This is great!” Zecelia called back.
“This is fun, Aunt Lorial!” Kelahil chimed in.
As they were facing south, none of them saw the dragons flying westward in the distance.
“What’s going on?” Kaolin called out.
“I don’t know,” Keld replied, distracted by all the shouting outside. “Wait here.” He took his sword and strapped it in its sheath by his side. Kaolin took her own and joined him. “Forget it. I’m coming with you.”
As they stepped outside, the reason for the commotion was immediately clear. Above the city, three large dragons were circling overhead. One was a great ruby beast, its sides marked by distinctive black stripes, and the other two were large emerald ones as Dominicon had been.
“Karn,” Keld murmured, realizing that all the noise had probably drawn him out of his homestead as well. He turned about and saw him several yards away.
“Karn!” he called out to him. “You and Shaala keep out of sight. I don’t want the dragons knowing you’re here.”
Karn looked as though he wanted to argue. Keld knew that the mage had shot down Dominicon with a specially made arrow Shaala had made, although he didn’t appear to have any such weapons with him right then. And as far as Keld was concerned, that was a relief because if Karn killed a dragon today, the remaining two would scorch everyone in sight, him as well. The young mage seemed to realize this as well, Keld saw,
because he retreated from sight.
Kaolin tugged at Keld’s side. “Look, Keld. The red one’s circling down. And what’s going on with those other two? There are Angdar on the back of one of those green ones, but not on the red one.”
She had good eyesight, Keld thought as he squinted in the morning sun. “Yes, you’re right,” he said, seeing what she meant. “Well... now we’ve seen everything.”
Kaolin frowned. “What do you mean?”
“These are the famed dragons of Drach’nsvoiya. Proud. Arrogant. And they’re carrying Angdar.”
“I wonder what it all means.”
“I suppose we’ll find out,” Keld replied, nodding to the red beast that was circling the crowd. For a moment the dragon’s gaze fell right on them and Keld saw that people around them kept glancing back their way.
“It was looking for us,” he murmured. “And I think it’s found us.”
The dragon then glided low over the crowd, its great wings blocking the sun for a heartbeat. Then it turned around and drifted towards them.
Then before their eyes, the wings shrunk back, the tail retreated, the neck shortened and it all happened too quickly to fully grasp what they were seeing. A moment later, a naked woman stood in the dragon’s place. A striking woman with bronze skin, and hair of the deepest black falling down about her shoulders. And she stared straight at Keld and Kaolin with piercing green eyes.
“Now,” Kaolin murmured to Keld, “we’ve seen everything.”
“You,” the woman addressed them. “You were the leaders of these people?” Her voice was rich but the warmth of its tone was undermined by the directness of the words. Her eyes stayed on them as if the crowds that were gathered around her were of no importance. Overhead, the two emerald dragons that had accompanied her were circling closer to the ground.
“I am Lady Kaolin,” Kaolin replied, her voice proud and strong. “I am the leader of Arahir and this here is my husband Lord Keld. Who might you be, my friend?”
The woman smiled. “The people of this land chose their leader well, my lady. However, while I admire your courage, I must tell you that you are no longer their leader. I am Savenya, my lady, and as of this moment, Arahir is mine.”
“What is it that you want, Savenya?” Kaolin asked, her eyes locked on the other woman’s.
“The dragons of Drach’nsvoiya have suffered without for far too long,” Savenya replied, walking towards her. “For thousands of years, we fought each other for scraps, while the people of the Greater Realms grew fat on a life of plenty.”
“If it’s the bounty of the Greater Realms you want, you’re welcome to share it with us,” Kaolin told her. “There’s enough for all.”
Savenya paused, eyeing her as though she had spoken out of turn. “For some time, many of us have dreamed of your lands,” she continued at last, turning away. “Some answered the call of Marshal Artaeis and other such mages for the chance to reap the bounty of them and to taste what so many of us have desired for so long. The glory of dominion over others.”
“A glory,” she said, her voice taking on a firmer tone, “that was denied us for thousands of years by the ruler of our land, and a glory that none could have while a few powerful mages held the Greater Realms in their fists. All who answered the calls over the long years became servants, even Dominicon.”
She laughed in contempt but her voice softened when she spoke again. “Then eventually, ambassadors stopped coming, no mages tried to call us from afar, and after some years passed, we came to see the Greater Realms for ourselves. And what we’ve found is everything we could wish for. The Cirreone Empire, the last of the great powers, gone, Dominicon with it ...” She caressed Kaolin’s cheek, and although she was frightened, Kaolin didn’t look away. “... and the Greater Realms waiting for us,” Savenya finished, her voice now lilting and sweet. “Like ripe fruit on a tree, just waiting to be plucked.”
“What use is dominion over all others?” Kaolin asked her. “As I said before, there’s enough for all here. You’re welcome to share it.”
“Oh, I intend to take my share,” Savenya replied, twisting her words. “As for the use of dominion, I want it and if it shall satiate that desire, then that is use enough for me. If you wish to discuss philosophy, I could ask you why you make music or why artists sculpt the images of things that appear in nature when they can never truly match the beauty of what it is they attempt to recreate.”
Kaolin said nothing.
“We don’t desire sustenance,” Savenya told her. “We’ve had that for as long as I can remember. We want prosperity. We are here to take what is rightfully ours.” She then raised her voice so that the crowd around them could hear her. “Our needs however are simple. Once a month, starting from the end of this one, our Angdar shall visit all the towns and villages of this land to collect a portion of the produce from that month, grown, raised, bought or bartered for or otherwise gathered in that village. We shall start with one third, and for your sakes, make sure that is enough to satisfy our expectations.”
Keld felt his wife’s helplessness and squeezed her hand. There was nothing they could achieve by defiance.
“If any village does not comply,” Savenya said, and on cue one of the green dragons circling above blasted a torrent of flame over the city, “that village will be destroyed. If anyone resists us, if any Angdar are killed, the villages of those responsible will be burned to the ground.”
“And,” she added, turning to Keld and Kaolin, “for additional leverage, and to ensure your cooperation, the Lady Kaolin and her husband will remain under my protection for the immediate foreseeable future. Perhaps if you carry out your new duties well, they shall be released back to you before the next winter arrives. If not, then their stay with me may be indefinitely prolonged.”
While she spoke, one of the emerald dragons descended to the ground, although it did not change into a human form. When Keld and Kaolin turned their eyes to it, they saw why. This was the one that had been carrying Angdar. There were four Angdar all told and they were now walking towards them.
“Now,” Savenya smiled, stepping aside. “My lady, if you and your husband would be so kind, please hand your swords over to my men.”
Fighting to keep the emotions that tore through him from showing, Keld complied and Kaolin handed her own sword over. Two thoughts however helped him endure the indignity. The first was that he had friends out there who would remain free and if there were any way to stop Savenya and her companions holding the entire Greater Realms to a similar form of ransom, they would find it. The second was that he and Kaolin would still be together. However, seeing everything he had worked to achieve during the past twenty years taken away from him in a heartbeat was a heavy blow.
“Be brave,” Kaolin whispered to him.
Their Angdar escort then bound their wrists and without speaking, motioned them to the emerald dragon they had ridden in on. They walked over to the great beast while their people watched. Everything took place in silence.
The Angdar indicated for them to sit one behind the other at the base of the dragon’s neck, then they affixed their hands to sturdy spines jutting out of the beast and strapped them in place with harnesses that were secured around their waists.
They felt a sudden jolt as the dragon kicked itself up. It then pulled itself onto the roof of the main hall and from there launched itself into the air, pushing itself up with powerful thrusts from its massive wings. Once they were clear of the city, the other emerald dragon landed and collected the Angdar. And once that was done, both dragons circled around Orishelm while Savenya finished addressing the crowd.
The view from so high up was incredible but neither Keld nor Kaolin had the heart to really look. Then Savenya joined them, once more in her dragon form, and they were flown away to the east.
Shaala hurried to keep up with Karn as he strode towards the stables where their steeds were waiting.
“Hey, boy,” Karn said, patting his horse. Then w
ith a slight tug, he pulled himself up while Shaala mounted her own steed.
It was not long before they had left Orishelm behind.
“Karn,” Shaala said after a while, “wouldn’t it be safer for Lorial and her family to head for Ensildahir? If we tell them to make for Kalishar, they’ll have to cross much more open country. It could be riskier.”
“Perhaps,” Karn said. “But I don’t think Ensildahir will be safe for long. I’d say all three of the Eirahir nations are at risk. Valahir and Erahil will be held to ransom just like Arahir. You’ll see. It might not happen today. Maybe not even tomorrow. But I doubt it’ll be too long before Savenya and her companions fly into Ensildahir.”
“Maybe we should warn Lord Asmundyr too,” Shaala said, “along with King Kaodas in Valahir.”
“I would if there were any point,” Karn replied. “But what can they do?”
“So Lord Asmundyr should just surrender himself to Savenya’s guards when she arrives?”
“If he cares about his people,” Karn replied, “then yes. Look, I don’t like it any more than you do but what do you think Savenya would do to the people of Ensildahir if she thought they were hiding their lord from her?”
Shaala sighed. “I suppose you’re right. What about Tal and Morgiana? Do they have any ideas?”
Karn shook his head. “They’re as much in the dark as we are. What can you do about an enemy you can’t fight?”
Savenya strode over the flagstones of the small village that the Angdar had made for her and the others under the imposing peaks of the Ogjenskarrat Mountains and looked out over the villages of their servants below.
“This place has served us well, hasn’t it?” she said, turning to the two dragons behind her.
The three of them were presently in their human forms, clad in the garments of their choosing.
Savenya’s was a dress of black velvet with intricate patterns embroidered in red that accentuated her figure and trailed slightly behind her as she walked. One of the other dragons was a woman as well, dressed in a similar fashion, and the second was a man dressed in a simpler, yet nonetheless elegant, black tunic.
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