CHAPTER 8 - I AM LITERALLY TWO DOORS AWAY
Word had spread fast. People lined the streets of Intricate Web City to welcome their new Sovereign.
"I seem a little too popular for the amount of time I've been in power." Roeg-Hiam confessed to his Matriarch.
Laureline smiled at him, she had figured out long ago that Roe was a newly awakened Dragon Lord. Sometimes he seemed old and wise like he had already lived a full lifetime but other times he seemed totally clueless at how the world worked. She found the latter to be a turn-on and the former to be cute as hell.
"Husband, you do not understand the boon to living in a territory that's been claimed by a Dragon Lord. You've brought stability just by being here. City Lords fight over territory and resources but all that now belongs to you."
Roeg-Hiam used Dragon Rule 11: Sense. He usually employed this Rule to know everything in his immediate vicinity but by putting more Mana into it he was able to gain an overview of the world around him. Paying close attention to his Territory he noticed all major conflicts had ceased. The fleets that fought in the seas around his islands had retreated to strongholds and were in holding patterns while their leaders debated what to do.
"Huh, you’re right. We'll need to go on a tour when this is dealt with. Let my new subjects know what is required of them."
"Yes," Laureline looked melancholy. "If you were here my Clan would have never gotten away with what they did." She finished. Roeg-Hiam held her close but said nothing.
The Underdark was vast and spanned the entire continent. The Intricate Web City was directly under the seas surrounding the land bridge. The Drow had built their capital city here to avoid the influence of the Dragon Lords but with Roeg-Hiam's claim they had failed.
Intricate Web City, or the IWC as its residents called it, lived up to its name. It was massive and complex, the main road was as wide as a 4 lane highway and only served as a strand in the web. The city had eight levels each with a similar road network plus the roads that led to different levels.
A Drow troop met their group and took the lead to guide them to the council chamber. As the Drow capital city many clans resided and did business here so having a city lord was impossible. Instead there was a city council made up of each powerful Clan. Both subtle and overt political maneuvering was abundant, it was by Killing the Orb Weaver Clan and taking over their territories that the Golden Silk Clan became the third most powerful member of the council.
The five Council members and their staff bowed deeply as Roeg-Hiam's intimidating carriage came to a stop. The gothic lines of the carriage screamed wealth but it was the massive burning elemental horses that whispered power. The councillors waited nervously, by now word had spread that Roeg-Hiam the Midnight's Matriarch was a Drow, depending on her Clan none of them may survive this meeting but they did not dare to be absent, an insult like that would be the end of their Clan.
Roeg-Hiam stepped down from his carriage, once again dressed to impress. Today everything he wore was white. In the Underdark by the light of his burning horses Roeg-Hiam the Midnight glowed. A vision of loveliness descended the stairs behind him. Like her husband she was also dressed in all white. The long lost lady Laureline of the Clan Golden Silk.
The other councillors looked around to each other. 'How had Golden Silk pulled this off, were they destined to rise further?'
Counselor Dorn of Golden Silk straightened his clothing before reaching out with a happy smile.
"My daughter…"
"No one gave you permission to speak." Roeg-Hiam's tone was frosty. The entire council was confused. Although Laureline had run from her Clan she wasn't hostile to them but somehow Counselor Dorn was in the Dragon Lord’s bad book.
Roeg-Hiam walked to the head Counselor, her name was Kylia, she was from Clan Water Strider. She jumped to remember her etiquette.
"Greetings Sovereign welcome to the IWC."
Roeg-Hiam nodded his head, marched past her, went through a series of rooms and directly to the council chamber where he sat at the head of the table. Laureline had been right behind him but the councillors had been caught flat-footed and had to run to catch up.
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"Sit." he commanded. The councillors rushed for the usual seats. Counselor Kylia was unsure of where she should be, but after seeing one of her people fetch a chair for Matriarch Laureline to sit at Roeg-Hiam's right hand Kylia decided to stand behind her. When everyone was settled Roeg-Hiam spoke again.
"I'll be borrowing your seat, Counselor Kylia, you can take Counselor Dorn's for now, since he needs to stand. My business here is passing Judgement on him as the current head of Clan Golden Silk."
Counselor Dorn got to his feet shakily and Kylia quickly took his place.
"Sovereign what happened between us and the Orb Weaver Clan was long ago and no sign of disrespect." Dorn pleaded.
"While despicable, that was before I took power and thus not my concern. What is my concern was the last time you sent your minions to kidnap your daughter back to your Clan. Your attack was so sudden she didn't have time to show her Crown Scale and the cabin that was destroyed was our home." Roeg-Hiam had exaggerated both the ferocity of the battle and the damage done but no one else had been there to see it for themselves. The council and their retinue all sucked in a breath through their teeth, resulting in an audible unintended 'hiss'.
"Sovereign of course that wasn't us…" Dorn got that far before Roeg-Hiam's right hand snapped up to point at him. A marble sized sun was on the tip of his finger. It occurred to everyone that Dorn had signed his own death warrant by lying to a Dragon Lord. Laureline’s small dark hand came to rest on Roe’s white clad bicep and the blinding little sun dimmed before going out.
Laureline stood and looked her father in the eye for the first time since that sad wedding day.
"The Golden Silk Clan was unaware that I was a Matriarch when they attacked so the Clan will not be destroyed. However half of the Clan's treasury will be taken as compensation for the destruction of our cabin.
Eldar Dorn for lying to your Sovereign you are relieved of your place on this Council and Exiled from this city upon penalty of death should you ever be caught within the IWC's limits. Leave."
Dorn was shell-shocked. Being removed from the council and exiled from the city took him out of the heart of power, he couldn't make timely decisions from their ancestral home, his leadership of the Golden silk Clan and all his ambitions were at an end.
Some of the Golden Silk Clan members moved to get Dorn out of Roeg-Hiam's sight. Laureline recognised most of them, inner circle members of the Clan.
"Aunt Mabrin." Laureline called out to an older Drow lady pushing Dorn out the door.
"Stay, you will take father’s place on the Council." Mabrin looked around wildly before she thought to respond.
"Yes Matriarch Midnight." She said loudly with a deep bow.
“Aunt Mabrin, there is no need to be so formal, you can still call me Laurel.”
From there Roeg-Hiam showed them how to contact him through his Sigil and went through their ledgers to determine how much tax the City would pay to him at the beginning of each year, he had had a similar discussion with City Lord Rubyfist.
They stayed in Intricate Web City for nearly a month. Laureline enjoyed being back amongst her people she was seen everywhere, there were dances and dinners, meetings, luncheons and tours but as this continued Roeg-Hiam was seen with her less and less. In truth he had grown bored with the bowing, scraping and brown nosing so he returned to the Cabin to repair it and he was now studying the two Sky Skimmers he had plundered from sunken cargo ships.
In this world Airships were a reality. Advanced magic allowed for ships that were both seaworthy and could fly, the limitation of weight determined how much Magic was needed to become airborne. This is why most full cargo ships still sailed the seas. While Roeg-Hiram was the master of Mana and could improve on all the Airships systems he didn’t know a thing about mechanics so he dissected the Sky Skimmers to learn. Sky Skimmers were the size of rowboats and floated about twenty feet off of the ground. The extremely wealthy used them to travel quickly around large Kingdoms. Roe studied their floatation runes and control schemes and built his own variation of an Airship.
He made a massive 70 meter black and gold Bullet shaped Yacht and put his sigil on the side to be the vehicle of Roeg-Hiam the Midnight and Laureline’s unofficial transport. He enchanted it to be bigger on the inside and added every luxury and many magical Automatons, it was basically a floating castle.
He made a much smaller 30 meter one, this one coloured a simple sky blue, to be the vehicle of Magister Roe this one was piloted manually, of course he had an automaton co-pilot but that was just a safety measure, this was a simple houseboat.
Outside of the cabin Magister Roe’s Sky skimmer floated. He had packed up and mothballed the cabin, crafted Elementals to guard the valley and said his farewells to the people of Babel. Laureline's Griffin and her flock of sheep had taken up residence in his Realm, it was time to move on. As he climbed up to the Airship the cabin door opened and Laureline walked out. She was wearing simple clothing and ran over to embrace and kiss him.
They stood like that for a little while.
“I got carried away didn’t I?” She finally said. “I’ve always liked too much attention.”
“No.” Roe replied. “You were born to rule. That kind disposition that attracted me to you is something everyone wants to be near.”
“None of that is important, I’ll stay by your side as long as you’ll have me. You’ve washed away all my troubles.”
“You were never interested in the Human Kingdoms the way I am. Don’t push yourself to do things you don’t want to.”
“It seems it’s time to add a second to your harem, I have a few suggestions.” She smiled at him deviously.
“For the last time, I’m not banging one of those Dwarf maidens, the beards creep me out.” Roe laughed holding her close.
Laureline blinked back tears.
“It feels like I'm about to lose you.”
“You are wearing my Crown Scale, you can call out to me anytime you want and besides there are portals to my Realm in both Airships, I am literally two doors away. Always.” Laureline wiped her face on his shoulder.
“You are right, I am being silly. I’ll go around your territory and subjugate your city lords, I may have to call on you to burn some of the rude ones to a crisp.” She kissed him and left, returning to the Underdark via the Cabin entrance to his Realm.
Roe watched her go before climbing into his Airship to begin his slow leisurely journey to Alstroemeria, the closest of the Kingdoms of man in the God Lands.