A feeling of despair and terror hung thick over the streets of Crown City as Nadira, the newly free djinn made her way through the once clean cobbled avenues of the inner ring. She could have walked the corridors of magic and arrived at the palace instantly, but she forced herself to observe this reality. For this was a reality she herself had wrought.
It was her magic that clouded the king’s thoughts with paranoia and delusions of grandeur. It was her magic that twisted the young prince Gespar’s body and mind. Typhon may have forced her hand as her former master, but Nadira felt the responsibility all the same. She walked past crews pulling handcarts piled high with broken bodies while others worked grimly with tools to pry loose corpses still frozen fast to the ground.
In the outer ring no such crews bothered. Throngs of poor children orphaned by the war picked valuables from pockets of corpses that may well have belonged to their parents. Those images would be carved into her memory forever.
She climbed the steps to the Crusibilis Sanctum with a faltering gait, noting the many contorted corpses still impaled upon high spires and the patches of frozen blood staining the building. The wrath of lord Gray was as vast as his kindness.
The four guards posted at the entrance stood up a bit straighter at Nadira’s approach. The once magnificent steel banded white oak double doors were nowhere to be found. Here was nothing but a vast gaping hole edged with melted stone.
“We can permit no visitors this day.” One guard reluctantly stepped forward, feeling a familiar presence from the cloaked woman.
Nadira’s only response was to show her face. The four men dropped to a knee when her hood was pulled back.
With a silent nod she made her way into the sanctum, following the great black footprints melted deep into the marble floor. She could hear an argument taking place in the great hall. Several people were shouting over one another in ragged voices, hoarse from hours of desperate debate.
“My king, please!” The voice of a young viscount. “The deadline is this day, my home lies directly in their path!”
“What of Yuther’s forces? Why have they not been recalled!?” An old marquess shouted over him.
The king simply stared blankly over them. To his subjects he appeared deep in thought with a stone faced determination, but Nadira could see him clearly. He was a confused and scared old man, frozen with indecision without Typhon guiding his every order.
King Gault caught sight of the approaching djinn and his face suddenly animated with hope.
“Black Knight!” His voice silenced the throng of nobles, and as one they turned. “Yes! Where is Typhon? Have we prepared for a counterattack?”
“I am so terribly sorry, young master.” Nadira couldn’t help but remember the bright, idealistic child Gault had once been - before she had been forced to destroy his life. She ascended the stairs to stand directly in front of him.
The king’s face scrunched in confusion. He wondered why no one else was reacting to this. Crusibilis Knight or not, guards should be leaping between them. Then he noticed. They were all paralyzed by the power of the Black Knight.
“Have you betrayed us!? Are you working with that Usurper?”
“You were betrayed the moment your grandfather accepted Typhon into this court.” Nadira said, reaching out a hand that glowed with a faint purple light. As it touched Gault’s forehead, memories long buried or altered flooded the king’s mind. “He killed your grandfather. He made me kill your parents. We fed you lies and propaganda about demi human plots. I poisoned the mind of your son, and twisted his body with forbidden magic.” Nadira watched her words hit the king like hammer blows. His face went slack, and his eyes dull. “It was all to weaken this continent for an invasion. Typhon never cared if you won or lost.”
“W-why?” Gault fumbled. His magical aura weakened and finally failed. Without it, he was indeed a wretched man. His prematurely aging flesh sagged, and his hair was thin. “My whole life was a lie! Why tell me now!?”
“Lord Gray has defeated Typhon, if only for now, and has given me freedom. I tell you now because I could never tell you before. My heart has broken for you many times, your majesty. It may be too late to save you, but your kingdom is not yet lost. With my testimony, Lord Gray may yet show mercy.”
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“I... wish you would just kill me.” King Gault buried his head wearily in his shaking hands.
“I can finally refuse wishes like that, your majesty.” Nadira said gently. “It may be selfish to ask this, but please let me try to right some of the wrong I was made to do.”
“What must I do?” Gault looked up, a bit of clarity finally lighting his tired eyes.
“We will go to him together. I will confess everything, and we will beg for a chance to redeem this kingdom."
“What more can I lose?” Gault’s face settled into a haunted smile. “Very well take me to the Usur- take me to see this man.”
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“So all that happened, huh?” I shut my eyes for a moment to fully digest the djinn’s long and terrible tale.
I sat in the dark throne Tabula created for me in the special reception area. The polished stone platform was suspended in a perfect illusion of the open cosmos. Also in attendance for this quickly organized meeting were King Thrym of the giants, King Ramthrag of the dwarves, Queen Saet of the Celestials, Raj my deputy governor, Hurstag my guildmaster, and Tabula holding a thoroughly dejected demon kitten.
King Gault was little more than skin, bones, and robe standing next to Nadira.
“You have my word that the kingdom will wage no further war against your alliance. I will gladly offer up my head if it will spare my family and the people of the kingdom.” The king bowed his head as he said this.
“Tabula?” I looked over at the beautiful android as I asked.
“No deception.” She said simply.
“We will take this revelation into consideration.” I took a deep breath. “Many lives were lost as a result of this war. You were clearly manipulated, and a victim in your own way but that can’t fully erase your role in what happened. Nadira, you may return the king to his kingdom. We will need time to discuss this.”
“Lord Gray, if I may.” Nadira pleaded. “I know I have no right to beg this of you, but if you could just promise to spare the lives of the citizens-.”
“What?” I was taken aback. “Who the hell do you think I am? We just need to discuss reparations and logistics, we’re not murderers.” It came out sharply and they both flinched.
“Of course, Lord Gray. Forgive my impertinence.” Nadira touched the king on his shoulder and together they bowed before turning for the elevator door floating in space far behind them.
Once they were gone, I opened the floor to discussion about how to handle this suddenly sticky situation.
“I believe the good king Ramthrag has suffered the most at the hands of the human invasion.” The first to speak was Thrym. The great giant nodded his enormous crowned head in the direction of the dwarven king.
“Bah. Old Gault’s just a puppet with cut strings, and the kingdom already paid with the blood of fifty thousand soldiers. War’s over. Now that we can freely farm the surface and trade our goods, we’ll be fine in a copper nail.” Ramthrag waved his thick hand dismissively at the idea of reparations.
I couldn’t hide my confused expression fast enough, and I figured out what the expression probably meant from context before Saet clarified for me.
“A copper nail is one of the simplest things for a smith to produce.” She clarified.
“Thanks Saet, got it.” I hurried along. “Be that as it may, your majesty, I intend to put the soldiers we captured to work within your territory. Many villages need rebuilt, and in this way they may atone for the part they played in the invasion. I insist they not be termed slaves, however. They are indebted prisoners of war. We may decide on the length of their sentence later, but they must be treated humanely and given a date of release.”
“No objections, Lord Gray.” Ramthrag nodded firmly.
Good. This was going well. Next on the agenda was...
“Speaking of smithed goods.” I navigated my inventory in a flash and produced a chunk of reddish black shining material. This was a small chunk of Zurg’s skin collected from the titanic corpse still sitting in the dead jungle where we had left it. “Think we can do something with this material? It’s extremely hard. Not even I can break it easily.” I tossed the chunk to Ramthrag and he caught it with a puzzled look.
“Where... where in the world did you get this!?” He turned it over and over in his skilled hands, and held it close to his eye. “It’s so full of magic that it stings my hands! Makes dragonscale look like pig skin!”
That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear. A wicked smile began to grow on my face.
“I’d like to employ some of your best miners to harvest the rest of that material. There is a huge amount of it, and the work will be grueling. As payment, your kingdom will be entitled to half of the total amount recovered.”
“Lord Gray. Every bone in my greedy dwarf body hates me for saying this, but half is far too much. A simple weapon made from this would be a national treasure...”
“Then would you be willing to process our half into tools, weapons, and armor at a discounted rate? Will that ease your guilt?”
“Deal.” The dwarf’s cheeks were red with excitement. “I’ll make you a weapon myself.”
“Thrym.” I turned to the king of giants. “If there are any strong giants looking for work, can you please direct them to assist the team of dwarven miners? They’ll be payed very well, of course.”
“I will find you some of the very best.” Thrym assured me. “If I allow every volunteer to go, my city will be empty.” The giant chuckled.
And the last thing I needed to talk about was...
“Saet, you wanted to discuss a location to plant another Celestial Oak?”
“Indeed, Lord Gray.” Saet stood up a bit straighter. “There is a small ruin in a clearing discovered by our diviners in the forest. It is a place of incredible natural energy. More than a dozen leylines intersect there. The tree could grow easily, and increase the fertility of the entire region manyfold.”
I wonder if she means the spot Ariel summoned me? That would make sense on some levels.
“Raj will draw up a deed for your land claim.” I said and Raj nodded. “You’re all still welcome in EDEN for as long as it takes, of course.” Man settling things felt good, I was literally feeling lighter.
“Are we all satisfied with our current trade relationships and plans moving forward?” I asked the general group.
A small chorus of “Aye.” answered, and with that we finally adjourned for the day.
I decided to let the kingdom sweat for a day. The agony of not knowing could be their penance. A thought hit me then and I smiled. It was almost time. I caught up to Raj and pulled her aside.
“Start packing your things.” I grinned at her.
“What? Am I going somewhere?” Raj seemed confused.
“WE are going somewhere.” I corrected slyly. “Sapphire and Tabula will take over while we’re in Rakashi checking on your people. We leave in two days.”
For the first time since I healed her wings, Raj’s face went slack with shock. “You remembered your promise...” Before I could reply, she leaped forward and hugged me tightly.
She was warm and smelled like she had been in the herb bath recently - mint and lavender. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love fantasy worlds.