Sir Irand Greyson
I hummed as I walked through the wintry streets, Ereneya’s package under my arm. It was a nice enough day but I was hurrying my steps towards the Castle. It wasn’t every day that most people got to meet with the Royals and here I was showing up unannounced for the fifth time in less than two weeks. Ruhn and Raya had been very accommodating and they were more than happy to cooperate with my plans. Among other things. I smiled at the thought. I loved my Sister but I had seen the Royals flirting with her for months before she became Naravie. Meanwhile as soon as I had begun scheming with them they had begun doing the same to me and I was enjoying it.
The three of us were thick as thieves these days and I had been relishing it. I had never had Tiran or Siran’s looks and Naravie was beautiful but I was… plain. I wasn't ugly by my own metrics but I was… boring would be the correct word I suppose. I looked like most of the knights of the Kingdom, I hadn't distinguished myself like my siblings and I had never made myself stand out in other ways. I was perfectly content to remain unseen in the shadows. But with that came loneliness. I had tried to make things work with some of the common born girls but when I tried explaining my ideas their eyes would glaze over or they would complain about how things didn't make sense.
And then I had started my schemes with Ruhn and Raya. And it was glorious. Finally, I had not one but two people who kept pace with my line of thought. They even outpaced or built on the ideas I presented. The three of us had stayed up many a night in the past few months discussing plans. And then it had gone further. It had begun about two months ago, we had been plotting how we would be strong-arming a handful of allies who had abandoned us during the invasion into paying reparations for breaking their treaties. They had poured wine and we had been talking and then… well I had awoken between them with our clothes discarded at the foot of the bed. I hadn't been able to stay as long as any of us would have liked as the servants came to check on them but it hadn't stopped there and it had become something casual for us and now… now I was able to walk into the private wing of the Castle and make myself at home as I wished.
The servants might have known what was going on but Raya had ways of keeping them quiet. I didn't know how but she was easily the most terrifying member of our trip, she could shift at the drop of a hat from a friendly bubbly personality to a cold and terrifying persona. I had asked how she had learned to do that and she had simply responded that she had been taught well. I hadn't pushed further but my curiosity still burned about what she had gone through to be able to do that.
I pulled myself from my thoughts as I entered the palace. The Guards nodded to me as I passed them, they were used to me coming and going as I pleased and they rarely spoke to me these days. I wasn’t just a Knight any longer, I was one of the Scheming Lords who had sided with the King and Queen in recent months. I rolled my eyes at the thought as I passed through the doors to the Western Wing of the Castle and found my way to the common room. Little had changed since my last visit and I set my package down on the table before collapsing onto the many cushions of the couch and relishing in the comfort of the silks. It was something I had enjoyed about the Palace decor and one of the things I would miss most of all during my absence from Calanai.
I felt a light touch brush against my cheek and felt a weight on my hips. My eyes opened lazily as I saw Raya looking down at me as she sat atop me in a very suggestive position. She had an impish smile and I swear she loved mischief more than the demons out of old legends. She was wearing a loose fitting tunic and some simple pants that were similarly flowy. And I still hadn’t heard her before she touched my cheek. Most would assume she was simply being playful and cute.
I knew better.
“So horrid it must be for a Queen to have the skills of a Honed Assassin. And no one to use them on.” I said softly.
“Oh its not all bad…. I can use them to sneak up on just about anyone. Which can lead to some… Interesting arrangements.”
Her smile widened as she laid down on top of me and her lips were only a hair’’s breadth from mine. I could feel the soft touch of her breath as she teased me but I was all too familiar with this game at this point. I gave her a smirk as I spoke back in a whisper.
“Where’s Ruhn? It’s not like you to leave him alone these days.”
The words broke her act and she sighed as she let her chin rest upon my shoulder instead.
“Discussing things with the Prince of Tesvin. He managed to extort a massive arrangement out of them but… well I have no desire to see old faces.” She whispered in my ear.
I took a breath at that, something made significantly more difficult by the person laying her weight across my chest. Tesvin was a Kingdom to the East and one of the three Central Kingdoms where the Church had assumed the bulk of their influence and power. It was also one of the Oldest Kingdoms on the Continent alongside Harendel. I had seen illustrations of Tesvin and its Glorious ancient Fortress dwelling in the center of a sprawling cityscape. They were the Home of the Church’s Greatest Paladins, ones who were sent to hunt down monsters and they made Argan look like a Novice if the stories were to be believed.
Which I did.
Tesvin was also Raya’s home and I was the only living member of the Kingdom who had seen the extent of her skills besides Ruhn. Her skills being those of an Assassin had been a surprise though. She had been trained by her Father, known during his life as the Bloody Moon of Tesvin, and she had kept her skills sharp since. I knew Naravie and Tiran knew of her skills with a blade and the two of them had even sparred with her before to help teach her. It was all an act. Raya could most likely have bested either of them but that wasn’t why she trained with them, she wanted to be able to spar with those larger than her and train against those who fought like us. For if the day ever came where the Paladins of Tesvin attacked us, she would hunt them down one by one before they ever reached her new home.
But she had told me of Tesvin and its Champions and what she said terrified me. Like Harendel they had joined the Ancient Wyrm Hunts to rid the Continent of Dragons. However Unlike Harendel they had not taken the strength of Dragons for themselves, they had simply ground the Dragon’s Bones into powder and reforged their weapons and armor with it. The Process had had its effects. Those weapons and armor never tarnished and could resist magic to an absurd degree. There were tales of the Paladin’s in such armor walking straight through a Dragon’s Breath to sever their head with a single strike. As someone who’s adoptive Mother and Sister were Dragons, the thought horrified me. Even more so since Tiran had also expressed his desire to become one.
But for all of Tesvin’s Fame in martial prowess they were still people, and people were vulnerable to weakness. Especially those who wielded power within the Church. From my understanding the entire Kingdom was a mess of Bureaucracy and Corruption. Which was why Ruhn was now able to strong arm the Royalty of Tesvin into repayment. Because otherwise a few whispers in the right ears and a few handfuls of gold in the right pockets could cause a civil war that would bring the Kingdom low. I knew he had been strongarming the Kingdoms who had been allies to us that had abandoned us to Harendel’s forces but for Raya to leave him alone with them meant he was nigh untouchable in her opinion.
I wrapped my arms around Raya’s waist and gave her a firm hug from my awkward position. She squirmed at the contact but she allowed it.
“I use to plat with him as a child. He was such a kind Prince. My Mother had tried to arrange a marriage and I’m fairly certain that is what got a mark placed on her. And when Father tried to hunt down those who did it… Well I found his body in the Gallows the next morning. And I took everything I could from our home and he was there when I was fleeing. He watched me go. The Boy I had loved. The friend I had played with for so many years. He offered me a place in his court. Do you know which one?” She asked.
I didn’t but I just kept my arms around her.
“He offered me a place as one of his Concubines. A glorified whore with no rights and allowed no thoughts or freedom of my own. He knew I was too proud for that and I spat the offer back in his face. And then he said that if I didn’t accept I would end up like my Father, hanging from a noose. I kicked him into a pile of manure and I was out of the city before word got to the gates. And I would do it again.” She whispered, her voice soft and quiet but I could hear the sadness in her tone.
She did not often cry and nor did she like to show emotion. Her act at Court was the exception, a pretty mask to make the people believe she was merely a beautiful face and nothing more. But here, now, she was free to show as much as she wished. I had shown she and Ruhn that I was willing to keep their secrets, even from my family. And they had welcomed me into the fold, a trio of Masterminds tugging on strings to aid our home and protect our loved ones.
And one of the first secrets I had demanded out of them had been if they had just been using my sister. Had they just wanted her for the power and the aid she could provide? Had they simply been trying to entice Naravie into aiding them against the Church for personal gain? And the answer had been a resounding no. They did care for Naravie, long before she had been Naravie at all. They had once considered bringing Siran into their confidence like they had with me but… Well My Sister was many things but subtle and cunning were not among them. She and Tiran both preferred direct solutions. Tiran was slightly more willing to resort to cunning when needed but he was still a blunt object with most problems. Which was fine, I would handle the things they couldn’t.
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It was why when Ereneya and Naravie had offered to augment me with Magic like Tiran I had refused, not because I didn’t think the power would be nice but because to do my role I needed to stay in the shadows and not draw attention to myself. Which meant remaining weak and hidden off to the side while they received the attention. And I was okay with that. In an Ideal scenario no one would ever know all the things Raya and I had done for the Kingdom, people would simply assume Ruhn was a Great King. Which was true.
Raya pressed a soft kiss to my cheek and it pulled me from my thoughts. She wasn’t trying to start anything, I knew that but this was different. Normally she did not return physical contact but right now she had buried her hands under me in a hug and I could feel her shuddering as she held in quiet sobs. She had loved her parents, loved them more than all the treasures her family had possessed, and she had lost both of them in a day. Her Mother, the woman who had schooled her in politics and intrigue, lost to poison and her Father, the man who taught her the ways of the Assassin, lost to the Gallows when he tried to avenge her. At the age of sixteen she had fled her home.
I held her in my arms, a poor substitute for the comfort Ruhn could provide her but I could at least remind her she wasn’t alone. We stayed entwined like that for a time, and I felt her quiet sobs eventually give way to short light breaths as she passed into slumber. The slow steady rhythm of her breaths on my cheek and the warmth of her heart had me relax my eyes as well and I passed into the darkness of sleep.
I awoke to a slight touch on my shoulder and my eyes snapped open to see Ruhn smiling down at me. Raya awoke at the touch and didn’t even bother to look up. She just gave a sleepy smile as she laid on top of me.
“Well good afternoon you two.” Ruhn chuckled as he sat down next to us on the couch.
“Afternoon already? And here I thought you would be exorting the Prince for a while longer.” Raya asked as she yawned and sat back up, straddling my hips once again.
Her shirt had piled up near her shoulders while we had slept and it exposed her very beautiful body to Ruhn and I. She was all lean muscle and curves and no matter how many times I saw her bare chest it still sent my heart fluttering. Among other things, which I think was intentional given where she was sitting and the way she was moving on me. Her Impish smile all but confirmed it.
“Well I had to finish the negotiations with the Prince quite strongly. Have a look.” Ruhn said with a Wolfish smile as he handed me a piece of parchment with elegant script.
My heart just about leaped out of my chest as I read it.
Forty Thousand Crowns.
An order of Ballistae and other defensive weapons financed by Tesvin to allow Calanai to defend itself in the event of another invasion.
And a massive amount of food and spices.
But the greatest part was at the bottom.
Six Tonnes of Tesvin’s own Blacksteel and Six Tonnes of Ivory Lumber.
That was… Blacksteel was a known magical ore that was present beneath the Capital of Tesvin, presumably due to their process of bleeding the Ancient Dragons they hunted within the Fortress Palace but what mattered was what it could do. It could augment magic cast by a wielder or, when properly treated, absorb it, grow in power and then be released in new ways. Which was a massive boon for us. Blacksteel could be used for weapons or armor or line the walls of a fortress. Or, for instance, stored within siege projectiles to create weapons able to wipe out entire legions of soldiers. The Paladins of the Church used it to great effect and the healers even more so.
And the Ivory wood was equally useful. It was a treated Lumber from the East, beyond even Tesvin, and it was alive. Not in the sense that all plants were but it was Aware. It learned when it was fashioned into a new shape what its purpose was. It could learn to fire on its own if fashioned into Siege Weaponry, it could aid a novice archer to fire like a master. Or you could cultivate it. Which was strictly forbidden by the Church but we had already discussed it at length and the risks were worth it.
The trees that Ivory Lumber was fashioned from were alive in a sense that no others were because they had once been a forest of Dryads, Tree Spirits. And once, ONCE, they had been cultivated by another Kingdom whose name had been stricken from History and the Dryads had flourished. Which the Church could not allow. They had sent all their forces to raze the Kingdom to Ash and they had lost nearly half their people to do it. Because the Dryads had ripped their forces asunder. And that had been only a relatively small group of them. And it had been when the Church was young and Unified. Now they were still unified in a hatred of magic but Politics had set in among their ranks which meant if we could pull off something similar with the aid of the Dragons… My mind spun with the possibility of a Calanai free of Church influence.
I smiled up at Ruhn as I handed the paper to Raya.
“How the Hells did you manage that?”
“With a bit of convincing, saying that if Harendel attacked again how could we possibly defend ourselves when our allies could not be counted upon to provide aid? We had to resort to paying exorbitant fees to Dragons. DRAGONS! How could I as King of Calanai ever defend my home without their aid? And they charged me a Fortune for it as well! Despicable creatures!” He said, mimicking his own act that he had perfected these past few months with guilting others into repaying us far more than common courtesy would have suggested.
“That is enough to create a new Fortress. Do you think they will actually pay?”
“I do believe they will. I may have implied that many of our people were feeling abandoned by the Church of late and… well if they had something tangible to show that the Church did in fact value them it might stem the tide. The Bastard was quite quick to bargain after that.” Ruhn explained as he smiled at Raya who had finished reading the letter.
“So what brings you here Irand? I thought you would be busy with the trip coming up so soon?” Ruhn asked.
“Well I was but Ereneya finished the final pieces of our project a bit sooner than I had planned. The fruits of her labor are in that box.” I said as I gestured to the wooden box I had brought with me.
It wasn’t large, perhaps as wide and long as one of the Old Tomes and perhaps a foot deep. It was adorned with Draconic Imagery and I had guessed that Ereneya had spent a bit more time than Necessary on the box itself. It was a beautiful container but the true beauty was inside. Ruhn opened the lid and his face scrunched up in confusion as he pulled out a leather glove long enough to reach up to his elbow, adorned with Black and Red Gems and one singular Black Scale set on the back of the Hand. Ruhn turned it over in his hand and looked over at me quizzically as he handed it to Raya.
“Its what we agreed upon, a means of defending the Kingdom without Ereneya and Naravie being present. Its simply different in form than I had thought it would be. She agreed that it was necessary. But she also wanted a way to limit its power so it couldn’t be used for any nefarious means. I don't think she fully trusts you two yet.”
“Okay but what is it? A Glove with some small Gems on it?” Raya asked as she ran a finger over the scale on the glove.
“It is a way to channel Ereneya’s Power when she isn’t present. Putting it on will form a link between the wearer and her and she will be able to allow them to access her own power. She will also be able to cut off the supply of power if she does not approve of how it is being used. But you could, for example, use it as she did to bring down a Canyon or make roads nearly impassable should an invading force be approaching. Command of Earth and Stone.” I explained, as Ruhn pulled out the other pieces from within the box.
A pair of orbs, one a writhing deep red and shifting as if it were alive while the other was onyx black and unmoving. He very slowly lifted them from their places before he placed them back down, hands shaking.
“Those are pure magic from what she told me. Crystallized essence of elemental energy. And very very rare. She wished me to impress upon you that those are not to be used unless the city itself would be breached. Not the Kingdom, the City. They are stable until they are used, after that they become wild and how much they run rampant depends on the wielder. Under the right circumstances, or rather the wrong ones, they could do as much damage to the Kingdom as Naravie did to Harendel’s armies. Those are the option to use when you have none left.”
Ruhn nodded as I spoke. He was Pale as he stared at the box now containing the two orbs. Raya ceased her playful teasing and looked at her husband with concern.
“Ruhn?”
He blinked and looked at her.
“Its… power. Power made manifest. But too much. Far too much. It felt like… like holding a torch that is burning down in your palm. Like I could challenge the might of the gods but… I wouldn’t be coming back.” He took a long shuddering sigh as Raya placed a gentle hand on his arm.
I gripped his open hand and squeezed and the two touches seemed to bring him back to his senses. He stared at the box with a hint of fear in his eyes.
“Why give them to us? If she thinks we can’t be trusted, these are more dangerous than the gauntlet…”
“Because this is her home and ours. She wants it to be safe. And she said that you would understand the magnitude of the power she gave.”
Ruhn nodded with a solemn stare at the now covered orbs. Raya caught his attention with a gentle touch on his shoulder.
“Ruhn, are you okay?”
He looked away and rubbed his temples and it was silent for a few moments before he spoke again.
“No, but I will be. Any ideas on the other problem we face, Irand?” He spoke slowly and cautiously and he closed the lid of the box before he looked down at me.
“None yet. I have skirted the topic with Ereneya but she doesn't know why. She said that the Dragon who's lair we fly too might have something. Apparently he is something of a collector of old knowledge and magical times. I can hope that we will find something there.” I said softly, still holding Ruhn’s hand while Raya just gave him a concerned look.
The problem he was referring to was the other secret I had learned since joining the two of them. And that was that Raya was infertile. Apparently the teachings of the Church about stifling all magic save theirs and generations of repression made it more and more likely that any bloodline who had magic in them would suffer complications. In Raya’s case she was barren. They had worked with Gaty and sought help from a handful of scholars that had passed through the kingdom, in disguise of course, but nothing had helped. And with calls from the nobility on producing an heir now that Ruhn was King and the immediate threat of Harendel’s armies were gone it was back to business as usual.
And I was to be the latest attempt to find a solution. If I couldn't find one at the Dragon’s libraries then they would have to find a surrogate mother for their child. Which would lead to many many complications that we didn't need.
Raya placed a finger on my chin and gently tugged it down until my gaze met hers.
“Well Irand, if you will be leaving soon would you mind staying with us for a time before you leave?” She whispered in that alluring tone she loved to use on us.
“I would love to.”
Ruhn let out a small laugh and smiled as Raya pulled him in for a kiss while I'm doing the buckle on my pants with her free hand.
God's above I loved them.