by Alex Sapegin
Vatyra suddenly crossed the space between them and saluted Il with her sword, thereby admitting defeat. The miur sighed. They had hoped the show would continue. Andy started to listen. The tailed warriors immediately broke the battle down and analyzed it, noting the orc’s strengths and weaknesses. The general meeting passed a verdict that, despite her short (comparatively) stature and lean build, they were better off not crossing Ilnyrgu; the “minnow” might not be to their taste, even being experienced miur warriors. Andy grinned. He would certainly tell the teacher about the menacing warriors’ conversation he overheard.
“Luba, may I have more tea?”
The elf nodded. A servant ran up to him, took the empty mug, and brought a new one.
“Kerr, why aren’t you at the ceremony?” the Rauu asked.
It was a fair question. What could he say? That he dashed away as soon as the norms of propriety allowed it, and Karegar’s controlling eye looked away? Such behavior was not at all becoming to the heir to the throne, although he didn’t feel like an heir and was indescribably glad and eternally relieved that Jagirra was now dealing with the necessary political debauchery. It’s not good to run away from responsibility, but sometimes it’s nice. But what could he say to the girl?
“You know, I’m really tired, and it’s just not my thing.”
“Get used to it,” said Rigaud with a disgusting grin on his lips.
Lubayel smiled. Tyigu hissed indignantly and then looked into the eyes of the naughty guy. Lilly twisted her head, not understanding a word.
“You’re kind,” Andy summed up.
“And how! Okay, enough small talk and teasing. Tell me how it happened.”
“What, burning with curiosity? You can wait.”
“You’re awful, Kerr!”
“And how!” Andy looked at the discouraged Rigaud and laughed. After a moment, they were joined by Marika and Lubayel.
“All right, I’m done. But I’ll still nag you until you tell me. Don’t torment me, tell.”
* * *
Andy leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. A picture of a wide flat field with even rows of kneeling miur, humans, and elves immediately appeared in his memory. Dragons opened their wings and pressed their heads to the ground. A mass of people bowing before the crystal dragon emerged from the portal. The Empress, pausing slightly after each step, went to the heads of clans and families and to the Great Mother, who all met the lady standing in a separate compact group. Andy looked at Jaga and was amazed at the aura of greatness and power emanating from the dragon. After his mother, his father and Gray came from the portal. It was clear to all who they were: her husband and her closest adviser. As he suspected, no clan leader would dare challenge Jagirra’s choice of number one counselor. Gray really suited this post better than anyone.
“Grandfatherrrr,” Ruigar said in a reverent whisper, looking at Gray.
The ancient dragon slowed down slightly and looked at the red tribesman. Recognition flashed in his eyes. Ruigar shook his whole body and pressed himself to the ground. “Grandfather.”
Gray stopped in front of Andy and his scarlet-scaled adviser. The ancient dragon’s eyes reflected a storm of various emotions. Gray made an incredible effort to remain unperturbed externally, and only a small twitch of the tips of his wings showed how much effort it cost him. The Empress slowly walked along the building and seemed not to notice the hitch. A quiet grumbling began and grew in the ranks of the dragons. Many considered Gray’s behavior unworthy—the adviser had no right to leave the Empress without permission.
“I am glad,” Andy whispered quietly. He suddenly felt there was something quite off about this ceremony. Gray and Ruigar stared at him in confusion. “I’m happy for you,” he said once more, and violating all the norms of etiquette (a bad habit; what can you do?), he covered the relatives who had found one another with his wings. He remembered conversations with the ancient dragon wherein he had remembered his lost nest melancholy[JS25]. Three thousand years had passed since the portals closed, but Gray never reconciled himself to the fact that his loved ones remained on the other side. In his soul, the dragon, whitened by millennia, insane hope refused to die…
“Your Highness!” the grandfather and grandson simultaneously cried with fury. “Stop it immediately!”
“Well, there’s nothing in the world that doesn’t change. For example, you just called me ‘Your Highness,’” Andy said, feigning offense by making an innocent face and pulling his tail under him. Most. Awkward. Royal. Ever.
“Well,” said Gray, looking sternly at his grandson. “I’ll deal with you later. And you, Your Highness, mind your manners.”
“Your paw’s still touching the ground, and you’re wagging your tail like a dog,” Ruigar hissed angrily to Andy. “A clown. Your Majesty!” Noticing Jagirra approaching them, he again fell to the ground.
To the mother’s silent question, the culprit of the turmoil shot his eyes at both advisers and bowed his head to the ground. As the heir to the throne, he could not open his wings.
“Please forgive me, sire.”
Jagirra, with a nod of approval, flashed her eyes. A thousand and one torments threatening his offspring for misbehavior were reflected in Karegar’s eyes, who was standing a couple of yards away from his wife.
I understand my guilt, the measure, the degree, the depth of it… the heir mentally replied to the silent reprimand. Gray took his place according to etiquette, and the procession moved on.
The dragons, finding the culprit of the hitch, stopped grumbling, but still looked askance at the crystal individual, who, despite his title and position, managed to become famous as a violator of traditions and stood out even at such a solemn moment. Andy laid his head on the green grass and sighed. Next to him on the ground lay the head of Ruigar.
“Is there nothing you want to say?” asked the counselor.
“No.”
“Are you molting?”
“No, after the portals opened, I didn’t shed; it seems my body and energy channels reached the maximum, which allowed me to pass through the energy of the astral painlessly.”
“What is it then? Why is your behavior skipping here and there and all over the place like a mountain rat? Your mood is changing faster than the clouds in the sky. You’ve completely flown off the handle the past few days.”
“Hormonal imbalance, I suppose. A few molts in a short period, you understand…” Andy knew he was acting crazy, but there was nothing he could do. It was not possible to cope with the seething hormones. And he was amazed at himself. Where did that prudent dragon who was on Nelita go? Opening the portal hit his body hard. It would be better to molt than to live with such a mockery when you don’t know what you’re going to throw out next from moment to moment. Targ take it! He simply couldn’t imagine that after all the trials he’d suffered, he would be overtaken by a wave of pubertal changes. Thank the Twins they hadn’t awarded him acne. That wouldn’t be comme il faut.[JS26]
Andy looked at his front paws. At the moment, the Karegar’s front or rear paw-print would freely fit into the any of his paw-prints. In terms of bulk, Andy had exceeded his father by half a yard, but his dimensions came into conflict with his current age and physiology. Having reached the enormous size that other dragons reach by five hundred years old, he was not ready for the hormonal shift that came with it. Other dragons learned to control their bodies over hundreds of years, becoming sexually mature by the time they were about two centuries old. He had a full period of growing up that was squished into two years from the time of the Ritual.
In addition to the fast maturing, which Andy did not suspect at all, came complicated biochemical processes in the body. Nobody explained to him that “dragon fidelity” has biological roots, as well as dragons’ parental attitude toward all children without exception. In ancient times, when severe environmental conditions forced the dragons to fight for survival, nature awarded them one feature that increased the survival rate of the specie
s. As soon as a female became pregnant, her body began to produce a special kind of pheromones which “tied” the male who fertilized her to herself, thus strengthening the parental instinct. Similar pheromones, acting on both sexes of adult Lords of the Sky, were produced by small dragons up to about age forty or fifty. Even if they lost their biological parents, they did not remain without guardianship. Thanks to cunning nature, children easily climbed under the wings of other dragons and did not feel deprived of care and affection.
Millions of years had passed; the dragons had crossed the line that separates the mind from an animal state; they had risen to the highest level of the food pyramid and gotten rid of biological enemies, but the gifts of evolution still held their race firmly by the tail and wings. Of course, there were exceptions, freaks and renegades, or real monsters like Jagirra’s uncle, whom the parental instinct had passed by completely. But in general, the attitude towards dragonlings and females remained the same as it was a million years ago. They were protected and cared for. The second hypostasis played a good joke on Andy. As soon as his body had managed to finalize the necessary (due to the connection with the astral) changes, a new hormonal rebuilding began, caused by Ania’s pregnancy. As a consequence, he was irritated in his mood and behavior, although for the most part he kept himself in hand and didn’t get too out of control, breaking only during the greatest emotional peaks.
Andy turned away from Ruigar and looked toward his mother. Jagirra had finished the ceremonial tour and stopped near the representative delegation of the United Rauu Principalities and the kingdom of Tantre. The governor and the High Prince courteously bowed to the Empress who changed hypostasis[JS27]. The mutual shuffling dragged on for a long time. When the ceremony had been observed, Jagirra again changed her appearance, solemnly raised her right front paw, and roared at a low frequency. The dragons folded their wings and stopped pressing to the ground. The elves and miur rose from their knees. A box of bodyguards immediately formed around the Empress. Andy, remembering that he was, in fact, the second person in the dragons’ domain, nodded to his advisers and bodyguards and joined Jagirra’s retinue, which was heading toward the settlers’ camp on the river bank. The next thing on the schedule was leading the heads of the clans and families in an oath.
Pacing after Karegar, Andy constantly looked back at the portal’s haze. Where was Ania? He saw Ilnyrgu and Tyigu coming out of the portal, followed by Rary and Rury, but his wife did not appear, although she should have stepped out in the front ranks and followed Karegar as a member of the clan and their daughter-in-law.
“Where’s Ania?” he finally broke down, consumed with worry.
“She stayed in the monastery,” Gray replied instead of his father.
“Wasn’t she supposed to participate in the festivities as my chosen one? Why didn’t she come with you? Am I missing something?” An unpleasant foreboding pierced his left heart.
“Should have,” Gray muttered, throwing a strange look at Karegar.
“What happened?” Andy released with claws on his front paws. “Lanirra?” The old dragons exchanged knowing glances. “Targ, why won’t you tell me? Have you swallowed your tails?” Andy was getting seriously upset. The dragons carefully watched his reaction.
“Quiiiieeet,” Karegar said. “It’s nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious? Do I have to drag every word out of you?”
“They had a fight,” Gray answered. There was no need to explain who “they” were.
“What?” Andy stopped suddenly. He felt an overwhelming sense of panic in both hearts.
“With claws, teeth, and tails. Thank the Twins there was no fire involved. They’re both recovering from their wounds now. Where are you going?” Karegar managed to grab his son by the tail. “You stop it! Hold on! Nothing bad happened.”
“But…” Andy couldn’t breathe.
“No ‘buts.’ Do you want to ruin your mother’s ceremony?”
“I’ll choke Lanirra to death!” Please God let Ania and the baby be okay.
“That’s why you’re not going anywhere. She’s had punishment enough. Your naughty black bride cut the girl up something fierce.”
Instead of words and questions, Andy breathed a thin flame. “I don’t believe for a second the ‘girl’ was so helpless. What did she do to Ania?” The stream of fire grew wider. A few discharges like lightning ran along his spine. His father and Gray looked down guiltily. Jagirra, who had gone on ahead, lost sight of the fact that her nearest escorts weren’t observing etiquette and had fallen behind, and one of them was extremely dissatisfied with something.
“She tore the membrane on her left wing and bit her tail. Your wife fights too well. Lani got much more.”
“The red fool,” Andy grumbled.
According to the stories of Karegar and Gray, the instigator of the fight was Lanirra. All evening and half the night, she was shyly hiding somewhere and appeared only in the morning. She caught Ania near the creek, where she had gone to get some water. The dragoness’ throat was dry after endless conversations. Neither Jaga, Karegar, nor Gray could have foreseen that an innocuous walk to a watering hole would result in a massacre. Blinded by fury, Lani rushed to the object of her anger and… plowed her face three feet into the ground. Smaller in size, Ania nevertheless returned serious resistance to the attacker. Striking with her claws on Lanirra’s wings and clenching her jaws on the opponent’s tail were Lani’s[JS28] only real attempts to succeed. Unlike Ania, no one had ever taught the red drama queen how to fight. In a world where conflicts involving dragons were smoldering or flaring up, special mentors and day-to-day life taught young dragons to fight with their fellow-tribesmen. Lanirra’s daily life hadn’t done much in this area, and with mentors, it was a total bummer. The light and mobile Ania quickly knocked the arrogance out of her rival. Trained to fight, she was a little smaller but much more experienced than Lanirra. The result was natural—after ten minutes, the fighters became best friends and began to teach each other healing spells.[JS29] All was well, but the membrane wouldn’t heal so quickly.
For Andy, the rest of the festivities passed with a cloud over them. As soon as Jagirra retired to negotiate with the Great Mother Illusht in a huge tent, and Karegar fell under siege by the heads of clans, eager to communicate with the Empress’ consort, he slipped into the city, grabbing carefree dragonlings along the way. Il and Tyigu sat on his back.
Ilanta. Tantre. The outskirts of Kion. A day later…
The dawn was fiercely and furiously tearing away the remainder of the morning mist, rising above the mountains and valleys that surrounded the capital of Tantre. After dispersing, the wind became stronger and more reckless, causing the banners and standards to flap on the horses’ tails. If a person were a bird, he could at once glimpse the majestic picture of the armies preparing for battle and would be shocked to the depths of his soul by what he saw. Time was running out; the opponents rushed to occupy the best positions possible for attack and defense. The commanders of the opposing sides understood that the coming battle would be decisive and would put a fat end to the war.
If the Ariates won, no one and nothing could restrain the northern wave that would crush the remnants of the resisting states. If the battle was won by the Tantrians, the Ariates would not be able to continue expansion—they would have stretched themselves too thin, gone too far. They would have neither the strength nor the means to carry out any more large-scale military operations. The northerners would have only one old enemy left, but they could deal with them later—with pleasure waiting for the Forest Lordships, who were expecting revenge, to undermine the economy of Mellorny Crowns and spend their available resources.
In any case, they were planning to block the Forest from all sides, including from the sea, where the Ariates’ huge naval fleet had no competitors. For thousands of years, the Forest Elves became heavily integrated into the international economy and came depend on the import of goods. The Patskoi merchants made a lot of effort
s, using predatory pricing and flooding the market with cheap goods produced at numerous manufactories. Building grandiose plans and dreaming of seizing the north of Alatar, the Forest Lordships, without knowing it, fell into one of the traps laid by Pat and Tantre, aimed at weakening the influence of their long-eared neighbors. The two states, independently of one another, planted the elves on a raw needle[JS30]. In this case, Pat succeeded more, whose emperors began their subversive work three generations ago. Tantre proceeded to implement the insidious plan after the coronation of Gil, more precisely after his final approval on the throne. Both states pursued different goals, but the total result of their titanic efforts was that the Forest had to cease to exist as an independent country.
Looking at the marching infantry, His Majesty Gil the Soft Spoken thought that he had done a disservice to himself, selling food and iron ore to his sworn “friends.” How badly he could have now used the grain or iron for armor. It was a pity—but you can’t undo what’s been done. The King stroked his hass on the neck and looked at the mages bustling away far from the main mass of troops, dexterously setting up the suspension towers of the absorbers. The remains of fog and a light haze of fumes hid the rear of the northerners’ army, but bird intelligence reported that the Ariates were also mounting similar structures. Gil grinned sadly—steel and will would decide the outcome of the battle, not magic. The will to win. The opponents’ forces were even. Near the walls of Kion, the half-million-strong armies would face off, and one of them would win, the one whose will to win was stronger.
