Chapter 7

The throne room of Presidia

Vella

Emeria’s glowing crimson body hung in the air, motionless in the center of the throne room. Vella’s mouth slacked open in confusion. “How can she be here,” she murmured. Aren slipped a hand over Vella’s mouth and pulled them closer behind the walls, motioning for her silence. The look in Aren’s eyes was enough of a reply for Vella, who nodded as she gazed on in fear. They both looked on as the electric hum of magic buzzed through the air. They waited for seconds that seemed to last for days until slowly Emeria began to shiver with life.

With a twitch Emeria’s eyes locked onto Dracyr sitting on the throne. Her body dropped weightlessly to the ground as she began to speak. “So my dear cousin, you thought it would be a good idea to send a knight to kill me?” Emeria grinned as she spoke, even though she was composed entirely of pulsing red magic it was apparent she was enjoying herself. “I have to say I’m proud of you, I really didn’t think you had it in you. I always thought you intellectuals were all talk and no action.” Dracyr sat upon her throne, giving not even a facial twitch in reply. “Statuesque as ever I see, you know that won’t work though. I can feel your heart Dracyr, I know how you really feel. All that rage and resentment you keep bottled up. If you’d just let it out every once in a while you’d feel so much better.” Again Emeria was met with no reply whatsoever. Emeria began to slowly pace, looking around the room. “I do see you’ve trained your dog well,” Emeria said pointing to Grayston. “Not even a flinch from him either, so like his owner.”

At last, Dracyr replied, “Though I am perfectly happy to talk with you my dear cousin, I don’t appreciate you calling unannounced.”

Emeria stopped pacing and turned back to Dracyr. “Unannounced?” she yelled, “You have the gall to speak ill of my manners when you just tried to have me killed?!”

In slow deliberate enunciation, Dracyr replied, “I simply do not know what you are talking about.”

Emeria clenched her fist and stepped closer to Dracyr as she spoke, “You can’t honestly think that you can lie your way out of this. I’m not as stupid as the people you pretend to lead.”

“It is you who is making false assumptions Emeria,” Dracyr said coldly, “You must take me for an even larger fool. I would never dare to anger the mighty kingdom of Sacrotia.”

“Under normal circumstances, I would accept that, but this plan reeks of someone who thinks themselves clever. After all, you and your scholars do think you are the cleverest of all the kingdoms. You wanted to take me out and avoid a direct confrontation. For someone who claims to have such intelligence you are quite stupid!”

At this, Grayston stepped forward towards Emeria’s magical shell, “You’d be wise not to insult my queen again. Queen or not I won’t tolerate such an affront to my kingdom.”

Dracyr stood from her seat and put a hand on Grayston’s shoulder. “At ease general, I can handle this.” Grayston kneeled as Dracyr walked past him and stood directly in front of Emeria’s flickering image. “Dear cousin, I do not mean to insult, but I can assure you that you are being irrational. There would be no reason for my kingdom to take such foolish actions against you. There is no need for mindless bloodshed from either of our kingdoms. Dracyr put her hand out to Emeria, “Peace between our nations benefits us both, why would either of us want to create such conflict?”

Emeria slapped Dracyr’s hand away, “Your face and words may lie Dracyr, but your heart, your blood, those you cannot mask. I see your lies plainly. You may be better at hiding them than most, but no one can hide from me.” Emeria raised her hand and pointed directly in Dracyr’s face. “This conflict has been long overdue Dracyr and I think it’s time we finally dropped this peaceful charade. I hate you and you hate me, it is so much simpler that way.”

“I do not hate you, my cousin,” Dracyr said coldly, “I pity you more than anything. Such rage and anger at a life you were never allowed to have any say in.”

Emeria replied by slapping Dracyr across the face, leaving a stinging red mark on her cheek. “Every choice I make is my own you ignorant figurehead. It’ll amount to more than you could ever be!”

A dry smile cracked across Dracyr’s lips as she looked back at Emeria, “That temper will be the death of you, my cousin.”

Emeria let out a low growl, “I have a few loose ends to take care of in my own castle and then I’ll be coming for a visit. Do try to stay alive long enough though. I like to play with my food before I finish it.” With that, there was a bright red flash and Emeria’s form disappeared from the throne room.

An eerie quiet filled the room as Dracyr sat back down on her throne. Grayston stood back up and looked at Dracyr with heavy concern in his gaze. Slowly Aren and Vella stepped out from where they were hiding and looked toward the throne. “That certainly could have gone better,” Dracyr said as she rubbed her temples.

“I am sorry my queen, I know this was what we were hoping to avoid,” Grayston said.

“True,” Dracyr replied, “But I knew this was a likely outcome if our knight failed. I have been considering what to do in this situation ever since we set the plan into action.”

“Have you come up with a strategy then my queen?” Grayston asked eagerly.

“I had several small ideas, but our situation is far different than I had hoped,” Dracyr said heavily. “This encounter proves several things that I had hoped were false.”

“What?” Grayston asked.

“The rumors about Emeria’s ability to read a heart are clearly true, we must shut the communication channel from the throne room now. The other thing this proves is that our contact inside Sacrotia is in grave danger. She wouldn’t have mentioned loose ends in her own castle if she hadn’t already determined that there was a traitor. Our communication needs to be cut off there too.”

“Of course my queen, I will take care of those now,” Grayston said as he began to turn.

“I’m not done Grayston,” Dracyr said. “We need to begin preparations quickly. Time is our ally if Emeria really does intend to deal with the traitor.”

“I know, but we are at a significant disadvantage,” Grayston said with some panic in his voice. “We have better-trained forces, but they outnumber us greatly. Both sides would suffer significant casualties and there’s no telling who would win.”

“Calm down general,” Dracyr said showing emotion in her voice for the first time Vella had seen. “Heated thinking won’t benefit us at all. Calm heads always prevail. Emeria may be reckless, but that whole exchange felt off. More than anything she seemed to want to get under my skin, not get information. She must have considered the possibility of a traitor within her ranks when she started her plan. Even she understands that not all of Sacrotia is for wanton destruction and blood. She’s mad, but unfortunately for us, she is by no means stupid.” A golden shimmer flickered through Dracyr’s eyes. “Even with all this, it would still take a few days for her to be ready and a few more for them to actually reach us. The dragon knights could be here in less time, but without the artillery behind them, they are of little threat to us. Our best position is to avoid meeting them on the open field of battle. If we fortify our position and draw in all of our nearby troops we can make it so Presidia is impenetrable. We have roughly a week to do so.”

As Dracyr looked up she was forced to realize that the throne room was not empty. Aren stood at the edge of the steps with Vella standing behind him looking quite uneasy. “Not that I’m the inquisitive type or nuthin’ but what was that?” Aren grumbled out.

Taking a moment to compose herself before responding, Dracyr spoke, “That was something very few people know of. The throne rooms of Surren are all connected by old magic, as such we are able to communicate with one another at a moment’s notice. That is if the connection is open of course. It has been quite some time since the connection has been used though.”

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“An’ by that, you mean that we can’t use it to spy on Emeria an’ find out what she’s up to?” Aren replied.

“You are correct,” Dracyr responded, “I have no doubt that Emeria has already closed her connection so that we are both shut out of the loop.” Dracyr paused for a second, thinking about what she’d just said. “Not a loop though, more like a door, she just shut the door. The connection is still there though.” Another pause and a flicker of yellow through Dracyr’s eyes came before she jumped up from her throne. “That’s it! The connection, that could be the answer!”

“Pardon me my queen, but what exactly do you mean?” Grayston folded his arms, “The magic in these throne rooms is so powerful and old, I don’t know of a single royal mage or mage even at the academy that could shift it.”

“That’s because there most certainly aren’t mages like that in Draeton or at the academy. Still, though, there may be someone capable of altering the magic and potentially weakening Emeria and her troops. If anyone could, he can.”

Grayston turned to Dracyr with a look of concern on his face. “You can’t honestly be serious, please my queen, be rational,” Grayston pleaded. “He hasn’t been to Draeton since well before you were even born, we don’t even know if he’s still alive.”

“I have no doubt that he is alive Grayston, I would have felt it if he’d died. He’s part of the link after all. I know he’s still causing problems somewhere.”

“But you know he won’t talk to us,” Grayston pleaded again, “Any time we have tried to contact him we have been met with utter silence. We would be wiser to put our focus toward our military, not some crazy old man!”

“And we will be putting our focus on the military,” Dracyr replied. Dracyr pointed right at Aren and Vella, “They will find him!”

“Umm…” Aren stammered, “What now?”

“I will send you two to find him, he won’t talk to me,” Dracyr said.

“So what makes you think this person will talk to me? I’m not exactly a negotiator. Most of the negotiatin’ I do is with my fists. Not to mention Vella is just a dragon breeder, she doesn’t need to be part of this, let her go back to her farm.”

“Not a chance,” Dracyr said with growing excitement, “You two are exactly the kind of people who have a chance of getting through to him. Your gruff nature and her simple honesty may actually get him to listen. If I sent Grayston he’d smell the high Draeton lifestyle in a second and run. This is for the good of all of Draeton, you can’t refuse Aren,” Dracyr said as she stepped closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and looking deeply into his eyes.

Aren shrugged off her hand and shook his head, “Enough of that, you don’t need to try your magic on me, I’ll go. There’s no need to force the girl though.”

Vella turned to Aren and looked up at him, “Stop speaking for me!” Aren turned his head to her and saw angry tears filling her eyes. “This is my kingdom too! I live right between Sacrotia and Draeton, if they march my whole farm, my whole life will be destroyed! I don’t care what you think I am, I’m going and you can’t stop me!”

Aren put a hand over his face and took a deep breath before he began to chuckle, “Gods above you remind me so much of someone. Same stubborn streak and all.” He put his arm over Vella’s shoulder, “Fine, we will both go, but don’t say I didn’t give ya a chance to back out.” Vella wiped her eyes quickly, embarrassed by her outburst. “So who exactly are we going to find and where are they? This must be somebody pretty special, I don’t think sway over ancient magic is too common a thing.”

Dracyr sat back on her throne, content at the change of heart from Aren. “You’ll be going to Aroster,” she said back in her usual cold voice.

“I hate Aroster, you know that Dracyr,” Aren replied.

“I do my friend, but right now I can’t exactly let your history influence our course of action. At least I’m not sending you to Lazzure,” Dracyr said.

At the mention of Lazzure Aren tensed and his gaze narrowed. “No need to talk of that,” he said gruffly. “So who are we going to find?”

“You are going in search of Kraevos,” Dracyr replied.

Aren’s eyes opened wide, “You gotta be kiddin’ me. The Kraevos? The guy would be how many hundreds of years old by now. What in the world makes you think he’s alive?”

Vella thought about the name for a minute. It sounded familiar to her, but she couldn’t quite place where she’d heard the name Kraevos before. Finally, it struck her, “The great mage, master of the binding!” she blurted out.

“Well, well, it seems you like literature then if you know who Kraevos is,” Dracyr replied. “Yes, that Kraevos, and I am well aware of how old he is. I can assure you, he is most certainly alive Aren.”

“So what, we go and find some bag o bones and he does what?” Aren grumbled.

“He alters the connection to the throne rooms, and creates a magical backlash that could weaken or even kill Emeria,” Dracyr said coldly.

“I know he’s supposed to be some magical powerhouse, but why would he be able to do all that?” Aren asked.

“Because he made the thrones,” Vella replied before Dracyr could. “Didn’t you read the stories when you were younger? Kraevos and Precia bound the wild magic that caused chaos and they made the throne rooms to channel them. They created the kingdoms and saved all of Surren.”

“Yeah… Um… readin’ wasn’t as much my thing,” Aren mumbled out.

“What he means is he was too busy causing trouble to read,” Grayston said in a snide manner.

“Yeah causin’ trouble for you rich upper ring snobs,” Aren spat back.

“Enough you two,” Dracyr said cutting them short. “Yes Vella, that is exactly why we are looking for Kraevos. The same magic that made the throne rooms and bound the wild magic has kept him alive for hundreds of years.”

“That’s great, if we find him he can end this war before it ever really starts,” Vella replied.

“It’s not that simple though,” Dracyr replied. “He grew fed up with the politics of the kingdoms a long time ago and has sworn to stay out of any affairs relating to them.”

“He’ll still have to help, he won’t let this many people die for nothing,” Vella said.

“And I have to hope that you are right Vella,” Dracyr replied. “He is an awfully hard man to find though.”

“And from everything we’ve heard he’s an awfully cranky old man, guess that means you’ll get along with him Aren,” Grayston said. Aren shot him a nasty look in reply.

“Sarcasm aside Grayston is correct, he is known to be rather short with people that he thinks are visiting them for their own gain.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it, gonna be a hard negotiation. Just tell us what he looks like and we’ll get goin’” Aren said.

“That’s the problem,” Dracyr replied. “We don’t know what he looks like.”

“How can we not know what he looks like?” Aren grumbled.

“Yeah, why is that?” Vella asked. “The books only ever really described his clothing, never his appearance.”

“That is because he is a pelliverto,” Dracyr replied. “His form is not constant. He is seemingly able to change his looks at will. His voice too, makes it even more difficult. There are only a few still in existence with a connection strong enough and unfortunately for you two, he is one of them.”

“So if we only know his name, how are we supposed to have a chance o findin’ him?” Aren asked.

“That one piece we have is the answer,” Dracyr said. “With magic and his name, we have the ability to find him. That said if he knows we’re looking for him he would be able to hide even from that. We know little bits of rumors about his habits and his likes, so between those two things we at least have a small opportunity.”

“That’s better than nothing I suppose,” Vella said sullenly.

“We do have one issue though, I don’t think either of you can do the sort of magic required, can you?” Dracyr asked.

Both Aren and Vella shook their heads. “I can’t do any,” Vella said.

“I only really got the one trick and that’s not really me doing magic,” Aren replied.

“Then we’ll have to find you someone who can, the problem is, any academy mage will get sniffed out in Aroster. That means we need someone with power and talent, but no training.”

“Great, so they have to hire a mercenary mage,” Grayston said sarcastically. “I’m sure that won’t turn into them getting robbed or worse. There’s no way we can trust a non-academy-trained mage.”

“Actually, I know one,” Aren said, looking down at his feet. “An I know she won’t turn on us as long as the coin is good. By that, I mean gonna need to be a lot o’ coin for this.”

Dracyr looked to Grayston, “Get them a large amount of money and whatever else they need, I want them heading out as soon as possible.” Grayston looked as though he was going to say something in reply, but judged better and left the throne room to gather supplies. Dracyr stepped from her throne and embraced both Aren and Vella in a large hug. “I thank you both for your willingness to help not only the crown but the whole kingdom. On behalf of all of Draeton I say good luck. Grayston will be back shortly with the standard supplies and money, is there anything else that you think you need?” she asked looking mostly toward Aren.

“Um…” Vella mumbled, “Can I… Can I take the wyvern? I mean Aegis, can I take Aegis with us? Her rider is gone and I really liked flying on her. With her, we might be able to get to Kraevos faster and I don’t know…”

Dracyr paused and looked at Vella, letting the question roll through her mind. “A steep price indeed Vella, but I suppose one worth paying. I am asking you to stop a war, I suppose I can give you one wyvern.” Dracyr outstretched her hand and shook Vella’s, “The wyvern is yours. Now if all that is settled it is time for you to go find your mage. By the time you are back, Grayston will have everything else gathered.” Dracyr looked deeply into Vella’s eyes and she felt a lightness around her as she saw a glimmer in Dracyr’s eyes. Dracyr turned and walked back to the throne as Aren and Vella began to leave the room.

“Watch out for that kid,” Aren said. Vella looked up at him inquisitively. “That look she just gave you, many a person has spent their whole life transfixed with that. I learned early on to shake it off.”

As they left the throne room and walked down the hall an awkward silence hung between the two of them. Finally, Aren spoke, “Look, I wasn’t trying to tell you what to do, least I wasn’t trying to say that cause I thought you were weak or nuthin’” Aren ran his fingers through his hair, “Somebody like you, livin’ the way you do, that shows plenty o’ strength. Most folks couldn’t do what you do. I just didn’t want them to force you to go. I wanted to make sure it was your choice. You’re awful brave to volunteer.”

“Maybe,” Vella replied, “It doesn’t mean that I don’t have my worries about it, but you can’t really blame me for jumping at the chance to see the world. Not that often an adventure flies up to a girl’s farm.”

Aren chuckled, “No, I s’pose’ not. That same sort of iron-headed nature is the reason I became a knight in the first place.”