Fomoria knew that his sister wouldn’t stay in the veil, it was simply too much of a chance to waste with doubt or fear.
He arrived in the morning to pick her up, which meant it was before dawn when he left Kor.
Amber had a chest strapped to her back, causing her to have to turn to her side to fit through the doorway to the gate room.
“Harlan.”
“Fomoria.”
There was some tension between the two men; Harlan didn’t trust his other half.
“Have you said goodbye to everyone? And I notice that Liat and this Sam character aren’t here.”
“They said that moving outside the veil was a bit too much, Liat was getting her fill of adventure just by wandering the Frontier.”
“I noticed that I haven’t seen Zella since I’ve come back. What has she been doing?”
Amber and Harlan were about to answer, it was simple, she had been…
Their minds were blank, not actually having any idea what Zella had been doing.
“She was distancing herself from us. I think the last I heard she was in the Frontier with Reet, but then she was thinking about going to the Confederacy.”
Fomoria began the process of tracking her through her amulet.
“Found her.”
“Really?”
“Would you like to see her before we go?”
“Sure, it has been a while.”
They found Zella sleeping in a hammock of her own hair, and guarded by Minos, who quickly brandished their weapons at the pair.
“ZELLA, HOW ARE YOU?”
She woke up and rolled out of her hammock; her hair caught her before she hit the ground.
“LADY ZELLA, GET BEHIND US?”
She groggily looked at Amber and what she could only see as a living demon.
“Amber? And… Harlan?”
“Call me Fomoria. How long have you been out here?”
“Harlan, why are you… different?”
“Because the Fae Nemain made a perfect duplicate of me when I left for outside the veil and-”
“Wait, what is out there?”
“Brutality, slavery, an empire that threatens to choke the remaining goodness from the world.”
“Amber, is he fucking with me?”
“I’m actually about to move outside the veil with him. I don’t know about all of it, but these Cast, they are evil bastards. What have you been doing out here?”
“Killing Fomorians mostly.”
Fomoria looked at the Minos, and he remembered the warning he had once been given to never set foot in the Confederacy for fear that no treaty would prevent someone from trying to kill him just for being part Fomorian.
“I feel the need to ask, but they are receiving judgment? They aren’t just being slaughtered?”
“You would not believe how hard it is to get a Confederate soldier to not kill a Fomorian.
The bigger problem is what to do with them. Leaving them there means we need to protect them from the other soldiers, and the tribes infight with one another so we can’t really put them all together in one place.
We’re doing what we can, but it is a pain in the ass with so few men.”
“I could-”
The smallest of the Minos pounded the head of her large two handed mace onto the ground.
“You shall not move within the borders of Mino. Your being here at all is nearly an act of war.”
Harlan stepped up to the woman.
“Apologies. I simply wished to help my friend and these people in whatever way I could.”
“These people? You mean yours? Fomorian.”
“I am King Harlan Fomoria, my people are any who need my help and who choose to remain in my nation, there is no blood that binds them, we are all Fomorian.”
The Minos were simply confused.
Fomoria, as much as he didn’t want to waste time, spent it to explain the Kingdom of Fomoria, and generally everything that Zella had missed and that hadn’t reached so far into the south eastern jungle.
“You… Harlan, has a kid? A daughter? Shit. I can’t imagine how he is going to react when she starts thinking about romance. You know what, I should call Tau out here, he’d love to-”
“As much as I may like the idea, I was only supposed to arrive, and pick up Amber, then help her get settled.”
“Well, if you want to help the Fomorians, then you’ll need to talk with Tau, he’s the commander of this section of the jungle.”
“Ha, a pacifist general.”
“Tau has loosened up some, but still, he’s trying to keep both sides alive.”
“That sort of weakness gets men killed.”
The small, well, relatively small, seeing as she was still eight feet tall, Minos pushed the handle of her mace against Fomoria, who barely budged.
“Don’t speak ill of-”
Fomoria stared deeply into her eyes, kindness having fled from them.
“Do not threaten me again.”
The woman took a step back without realizing it, and the rest of the soldiers considered it a loss.
“Zella, if you would release the Fomorians into my care, I would bring them into my nation, outside the veil.”
“Do you think that Adina would be awake? Could you bring me to see her for a bit?”
“If you are given leave.”
Zella put on her best puppy dog eyes towards the squad captain, who relented.
“An hour, and don’t expect us to let you nap because you didn’t get enough sleep.”
Fomoria dropped off Zella with a void gate, and then took Amber outside the veil, leaving Harlan to take her back.
She yawned.
“Do you need to sleep?”
“No, I’ve alright. I just need to unpack.”
“Hard to believe everything you wanted to bring could fit in one chest as big as you.”
“It’s not like I’m stuck out here, I can go back if I really need to. But, I wanted to travel light, figure I’ll try the styles of this place out.”
“All my people just wear shifting suits. But, I could have my tailor make you dresses and armor in local styles. It would be rude to shift into them without buying the designs first.”
“Where is your room?”
“Here, just across from you. When you are done, come see me.”
Anon had fallen asleep with a book in her hand.
She always woke up whenever Harlan left the bed, and considering his odd schedule, this left her awake at odd hours, doing what she could to get back to sleep.
When the lock clicked, she jolted awake.
“Good morning.”
“What were you reading?”
“The three goats and the Troll. I don’t understand, why would the Troll not simply eat each of the goats as they passed his bridge?”
“I’ve never understood that one much either. I prefer the kittens and their mittens.”
“Ah yes, a story of punishment and forgiveness.”
“Exactly. Have you been reading more than children’s books?”
“I was reading your guard guidelines, and there is a part about obeying the spirit or the letter of the law as ones morals tell them. I do not understand this, how should one read the spirit of the law?”
“Why do you think that laws exist?”
“Here? Because you want your menagerie to remain peaceful and under your control.”
“My what?”
“Isn’t that what humans call it when they gather creatures to watch them?
Your nation is a menagerie of guilt. When you look at the freed people, it lets you ignore the evil things that you do to maintain this peace.”
Fomoria’s face twitched, he… didn’t much disagree with her, but he didn’t think she held the level of understanding that would be required to come to a conclusion like that.
“Please, don’t use that term to describe my nation publicly. It would be… unsettling to others.”
“I understand that. But we are together, and if I am to maintain a face of my own, one that is me, and not what I pretended to be, then I should show that one to you alone. Is that right?”
“Everyone has a face that they show very few people, there is no shame in that.”
“But you also tell me that honesty is a virtue.”
“Why do you call yourself Anon? You told me before that you had no name.”
“Oh. You are changing the subject because you are uncomfortable with the hypocritical nature of humanity. I would rather remain nameless, because names are how one is known, and they hold power.
But, being here, I need a name for others to call me. So, I am Anonymous.”
Amber entered the room as he held Anon, since she found sleep much easier when she heard a heart beating in her ear.
“Oh, Anon, meet Amber.”
“I have seen her once before.”
Fomoria got up and hugged her, instantly jealousy flared in Anon’s mind, and she tried to pull him off as subtly as she could.
“Hello, I guess you are Fomoria… fiance?”
“Yes. Honey, would you like to take a bath?”
“Amber is my sister, she is not someone you need to worry about.”
“Skinship breeds desire. She and you don’t share blood, many wouldn’t consider it to be unacceptable to sleep with-”
Harlan flicked her on the nose and she recoiled and wiggled it; he never flicked her hard.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Don’t do that, I’m not a cat.”
“You were raised by one, and until you can act like a person, you-”
“Are jealousy and envy not an integral part of human behavior?”
Harlan narrowed his eyes. Her sharpness when it came to the bad parts of humanity was an issue to him.
He had believed her to be somewhat slow in regards to understanding people since she was raised away from human society, but her issue was really the opposite, she dealt with plenty of people, but few good ones.
“Why don’t we take that bath? Amber, would you like to join us?”
“I’m not sure if I’m ready for all that.”
“We bathed together all the time when we were younger.”
“Yeah, when you were 10, before all of that… stuff happens with your body.”
“Fomoria is quite well endowed, more than you could handle for certain.”
He just started laughing, then he flicked her on the nose again.
In the two days since Amber arrived, she had seen the city, she had been to Falin and New Kingdom, and she was taken by the sights of the people.
Naturally, she had asked to visit Velvet, but to maintain his cover, she couldn’t be seen with the king openly, so she had to just wait until he came over, which, since he was designing things for Harlan, was often.
He got a call from the Eolgi and research team.
“WE DID IT, WE FUCKING DID IT!”
The Other and the Dague were dancing around.
“And what exactly did you do?”
“Gee, Gee, get over here.”
The Eolgi was unlike its original form.
It walked with a hunched back and a waddle, but was smoother and more like a small human made of stones with long claws and a snout like a mole.
“Hell…o?”
It spoke with a strange tone, and other than that one word, it seemed to make clicks and low barks and chirps like a crocodile; the Other could understand
“So it can speak? That is impressive. But is it viable for our needs?”
“Yes, but not Gee, Gee is special to me and the team, the others, they can be soldiers.”
“How many of them exist now?”
“We’ve got a few hundred incubating in the stone, we-”
“We will need more.”
Fomoria couldn’t help but notice how one of the researchers clung to the Other.
“Be careful with women.”
“I know, I know, and I told her, and she understands.”
“Very well. If things are ready, I believe the next wave of this war can begin within the next month.”
“The stripe is secure?”
“Each marshall has proven to be able to maintain a city on their own. Any larger threats can be dealt with by me. Carmila still needs a little convincing, but, I believe I’m just a demonstration and conversation away from her committing to this war.”
“I can have the incubating Eolgi ready in two weeks, and the next batch in three.”
“I will have a target ready by then.”
Fomoria spent a day deciding with Larenzac and Mercedes which city would be best to hit.
But, during one of the meetings, he got an urgent call from Velvet.
He came from the void gate and moved in front of the man.
Without a word, anyone who knew him, knew that going against him meant death.
Still, the assassin tried, and Fomoria removed his arms for the effort.
“Velvet, do you have any idea who would send someone to kill you?”
He couldn’t hear him over the sounds of the man screaming while Fomoria sealed his wounds with fire.
When the assassin went to sleep with a concussion, Velvet then explained.
“Someone saw me and Amber. It got back to the Plest. I shouldn’t be shocked that your maids work for them. The merchants alliance-”
“How do you feel about faking your death?”
“What?”
“By faking your death I can see how the Plest react. Most likely, there will be a meeting, then, I will make my appearance, and my demands. You see, I dislike them having undue influence over my country.”
“You mean-”
“Any country with my charter is mine. And if they have dared to spy on me, on my sister.”
Fomoria snarled, his teeth shifting to points.
Velvet knew some of how he was protective of his family, everyone knew of what happens to Ceres and why, but to see that manic look on his face, a fury so great that he was unable to control what shape he took, that struck fear into anything.
Fomoria woke the assassin, who panicked and tried to kill himself with a poisoned tooth, but Fomoria already took it out.
He impressed upon the man, a Faun with shaved antlers, not a Plest, as they didn’t like doing their own dirty work, the importance of telling who he worked for that he succeeded, and Fomoria even gave him a body as proof of the deed being done.
So long as the assassin kept his word, he would be spared, if not, then he would suffer a fate worse than death.
It was kept vague what exactly that meant, because people feared the unknown, and one's fears were often worse than what he could specifically think of for an individual.
As expected, the merchants gathered in just a few days to appoint a new king, forging a will was easy, now they just needed to fill in the name of their new ruler.
But, when they started to leave, they found that the lock on the door had been fused.
“Good evening.”
Everyone in the room knew exactly who that face belonged to, or rather, those horns.
“Ah, King-”
“You’ve been trading with the Cast, trading things that I have forbidden in my charter.
What do you think the punishment for treason is?”
“Surely there must be some mistake. Perhaps it was the late King Velvet, we will launch a-”
“Late? No, I think he is right on time.”
A void gate opened and Velvet stepped through to the shock of the Plest.
“I’m not going to bother with a joke, just pretend I said something about my cock.”
“I will make this clear. One of you is leaving this room alive, the rest will be tried for treason, and judged immediately.”
There was a mad scramble as they tried to get out of their sentence by giving information.
The Plest, as collective as they were culturally, still feared death like any people, and cowards would do anything to avoid it.
Fomoria listened to everything, and then when he thought that he had it all, he killed the last of them.
“I thought you were going to let one go?”
“Those snakes would sell their mothers. I have no place for them in my nation.
I am going to kill as many as I can with the information which has been provided.”
“What do I need to do?”
“Reveal that you are alive and that a grand conspiracy of merchants was behind your false death, that I am seeking to root them out. You were already a figurehead, so remain as one.”
“You seem… on edge.”
“Years ago, my great grandfather gave rings to everyone in my family. These rings would neutralize nearly any poison, and in doing so, would turn the food or drink bitter. Amber noticed that her tea was odd, and asked me to look at it, to double check her results.”
By the end of the next week, hundreds of merchants were found to be part of this alliance across many towns and cities both inside and outside of Fomoria.
They couldn’t be as brazen as they were in Velvet, but as he and the D’ifs dug, they found that they were manipulating prices, threatening other merchants, and they even started to tie them into bandit attacks and other organized crime.
It was… unpleasant, but he felt the need to push back his planned invasion of other stripes just to deal with the Plest.
----------------------------------------
It wasn’t technically a trial, since Rosewell already said that he wasn’t going to be charged with treason, but she brought him in for this little show, where Harlan would be given a truth potion and told to explain what happened the day prior.
The other generals didn’t like what they heard, but it was now clear to them that Harlan was not involved with King Fomoria’s actions.
Discussion went to if they could even trust Harlan, since he was some play by Nemain and his existence directly led to the creation of blood gems and the escalation of the civil war.
And though he knew that it may not be smart, he did talk about his chat with David, adding that he did try to find him, but found it impossible, as if he was in a thousand different places at once.
Ultimately, nothing changed, Harlan under the effects of a truth potion told them that he was still loyal to Ragne, and that was good enough for most people.
Alder, demoted to just a general, barely said a word during the meeting.
They thought that the meeting was over, but Rosewell put a thick stack of folders on the table.
“The Unseen will be handing out documents showing new rules regarding information security.
Nulson, as you all know, has shown himself capable of using lower ranked soldiers to enter into secure locations. Just this morning, Sir Fomoria’s home was nearly attacked with an anti-magic crystal bomb by someone who slipped through the system and was granted a gate to his home simply by possessing a courier.”
“And how was it prevented on his end?”
“The Unseen are still investigating, but King Fomoria happened to arrive as the man was there, and he detonated the bomb to prevent capture.”
“And King Fomoria?”
“He was hurt, but survived the attack with minimal injury because he could sense the bomb before it went off and had time to defend himself, unlike what happened with Royal Guard Commander Safira.”
Harlan raised his hand.
“What were the circumstances of her being hit by the bomb?”
Rosewell hesitated to answer, since she was trying to keep Harlan away from this as much as she could.
“Nulson possessed a young girl. Are there any more questions before we continue? Any events that could be possibly related to Nulson recently?”
Harlan once more raised his hand.
“Yes, Sir Fomoria?”
“Regarding the Greenfield family, was there any involvement with noblists by anyone outside of the main house? Sir Grenth wasn’t possessed, but he came to me with information on his father having burned papers related to supporting them.”
“No, we believe that the papers were planted by a maid either possessed or hired by Nulson.”
Harlan thought about the Greenfields and one event, something that he had nearly forgotten, came to mind.
“Queen Yggdra, I have just recalled in my first year at the academy that a man tried to steal the locket of Willow Greenfield. I believe I was questioned in this, but I don’t remember a resolution to the investigation.”
“It is likely unrelated, but I will have the Unseen look at the investigation and report if there are any oddities regarding the case.”
The rest of the meeting was normal, focusing on the civil war.
What Harlan found worrying was that despite everything, the noblists weren’t moving forward an inch.
If they had really gathered magic from archmagi and blood gems, why were they just holding the line?
The only answers he got were that they may be still learning these spells, or that when David killed them, they hadn’t yet made copies and they simply lacked these spells.
It was nearly noon by the time Harlan was back home.
In the nursery, Amber was waiting for him with Adina, and in the distance, he could feel that his father was consoling his mother about something.
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to leave.”
“It isn’t safe. You were gone for a day and-”
“Not the castle. I mean I want to go with the other Harlan. He offered to bring Velvet back here, so I asked if I could go out there instead.”
“And you already told mom and dad.”
“How did you know?”
“Because I can feel that mom is upset in her room and dad is holding her. Where’s James?”
“Oh, Autumn is here, so she took the kids to see your lake.”
“I need to finish rebuilding that play area, build a train to it like I wanted.”
“You don’t seem as upset as I thought you would be.”
“I don’t want you to feel like you are locked in here. It might even be safer out there.”
“Unlikely, but thanks.”
“Are you sure about Velvet? I know you haven’t had much luck here, but you really don’t need to leave the veil just to find a husband.”
“Velvet, he told me about how things are out there, and honestly, I want to help.
I was planning to join the army here, and I’ve been with Sam and Liat to see the world and help people, so this makes perfect sense to me. I was even thinking about asking if Ava-”
“No. Not a chance.”
“Come on. I know you have a soft spot for her, but she isn’t a child.”
“She's not even a real mage.”
That got him an odd look from Adina and Amber.
“I don’t mind her playing soldier with Breken, but would she really-”
“Whoa whoa whoa. Playing soldier?”
“She’s fighting bandits and magical creatures using Lugh and my armor to make up for her lack of waiting to learn magic. She’s going to hit a ceiling to her power, and if she has to fight truly strong enemies, she’ll realize that and it will crush her. Breken was a soldier for decades, and he has his fancy sword tricks and underhanded moves, but if he fought me, do you think he would have a real chance?”
“Have you told her that?”
“No, I’d rather she remain a big fish in a small pond, and she’ll be closer to mom and dad.”
“What a load of bullshit.”
“I’m not trying to be cruel, but I just don’t think that Ava is like us. Mages are crazy people, just to varying degrees, and Ava, she doesn’t have what it takes to be a truly strong.”
Amber was going to go to her room right away and tell her, start trying to teach her, but she would be leaving in a week, even if she wanted to teach her, she’d be gone before she had the chance to do anything.
“When mom and dad go to the academy, send her with them.”
“I’ll ask her when the academy starts up again. They should have openings due to the Reinoans not being allowed there for a full cycle.“
Amber left, she had to call Sam and Liat, tell them that she would be leaving, and asked them if they would be willing to go with.
Harlan was once again uncertain what to do, so, he went to see Autumn at the coast.
“It feels like it’s been a while.”
She hugged him and then so did the other children.
“Jaramis, are you going to join?”
“I think not.”
Tiamat silently exited the water and watched.
“Have you met my friend here?”
“No. Is there a groundskeeper?”
“More of a guardian.”
Tiamat let out a relatively quiet bellow to draw their attention.
Naturally, all of the children were scared, and hid behind Harlan, but since Jaramis and Autumn knew Harlan well enough, the fact that he hadn’t reacted meant that it was fine.
“Fair noon, Little Shadow.”
“Children, would you like to pet her?”
They shook their heads, and Harlan walked forward to pat the giant water dragon on the snout.
“She’s harmless.”
A smile crept onto her face, flashing her needle like teeth which were taller than Harlan.
James, the youngest of them, and the one who Harlan knew the least, slowly crept forward and then held onto Harlan’s leg.
He barely touched the dragon before he started to run away back to Autumn and his niece and nephew who were more like cousins.
Tiamat’s laugh ensured that the other children didn’t even try.
“I’m sure they’ll get used to you.”
“Any who share blood with one such as you should be without fear.”
“Technically, I don’t share blood with anyone in my family.”