Chapter Eleven

The Emperor

After a four day journey through dirt and grime, being pelted constantly by harsh rains and vicious winds, all Lyetaën wanted to do when he reached the Capital was find a place to sleep, eat, and bathe. Bethare, however, had other plans. “Our mission is urgent,” He declared, “and if you’re not there the Emperor will never see us.”

“I know,” Lyetaën sighed, “But I’m so tired and I think my smell might offend the Emperor.”

“Stupid,” Bethare hissed scathingly. “Emperor first, bath later. Now hurry up to the palace!” Groaning, Lyetaën followed his friend towards the centre of the walled Capital, where the magnificent palace stood. Even among the Humans, the Emperors palace was worshipped as an architectural masterpiece. Made of rare blue stone and rising high about the rest of the city, it was truly a sight to be seen. There were high archways, huge terraces with marble floors and gorgeous fountains spouting fresh water down the surface of the castle. Thin spires wound up high enough to touch the clouds and were adorned with various statues of the Gods, with beautiful Adeini high above the rest, and three times as large.

Among his race, the High Goddess Adeini was depicted as a Draygon, although she was far too beautiful to be a creature that walked the earth like a mortal. The Gods were of their own species, but even the greatest sculptors could not fully comprehend their beauty. So Adeini was put into a more recognizable, and more easily carved form. Her stone wings were dipped in gold, a long graceful tail peeking out from under the folds of her celestial robes. Her hair waved about her in an imaginary wind and her angelic face was locked in a matronly expression. The Goddess spread her arms out, as if the embrace the holy Capital and all its people. The sight alone was enough to inspire in Lyetaën an odd sense of pride, as if simply being able to look upon the glorious Capital made him a privileged man.

Bethare impatiently kicked his mount forward and together the two friends led their entourage down the steep incline that looked down over the city and hurried for the palace.

The guards at the gates greeted them sceptically, and it took some rather graceless convincing on Bethare’s part to get them to let the party through. Even then, Lyetaën was sure that it was only by dropping names that they were allowed inside so quickly. Bethare took charge, as he was fond of doing, and demanded an audience with the Emperor immediately.

“No one demands anything of the Emperor.” The disgruntled attendant hissed. Bethare glared at the smaller Draygon, his fingers flexing as if he wished to tear the man into small pieces. Knowing Bethare, he probably did.

“Please,” Lyetaën said, stepping forward. “We request an audience with the Emperor immediately over a matter of great importance. We have urgent news for him regarding one of his Generals.”

“Well give the message to me, and I will tell him.” The attendant suggested, apparently not impressed by Lyetaën’s level voice.

“Absolutely not!” Bethare roared. “You will tell the Emperor that The General Is-draiq’s son is here with urgent news from Milkaas, and you will do it now!” The fury in Bethare’s eyes must have hastened the man to move, because he nodded numbly and scampered off. Bethare had never failed to impress Lyetaën with his ability to invoke fear so easily.

Within a few minutes, the Emperor had called them into his throne room to see them. As was expected, when they entered the men all fell to their knees and pressed their heads to the cold floor, waiting to be allowed to stand. “Rise,” The Emperor’s even voice said with a hint of suspicion. “Son of Is-draiq, tell me, what is so urgent that you would interrupt a council with my advisors?”

Lyetaën stood up and breathlessly looked towards the Emperor’s face, although he dared not look in his eyes. To look a man so powerful in the eyes was a sure sign of disrespect. He could be sent to the gallows for it. The Emperor stared down at Lyetaën with a curious expression held in his face and in his soft brown eyes. He was barely older than Lyetaën himself, he noted with some shock, not even thirty years old. If he recalled correctly, the Emperor had been but eighteen years old when his father died and he ascended the throne. That would make him something like twenty-seven years old. “My Lord, I’m afraid I bring sad news from Milkaas.” Lyetaën said slowly, bowing again.

“Yes?” The young Emperor raised an eyebrow at the man before him. His hair was sleek and smooth, his wings perfectly sheen. His royal red and gold robes rustled softly as he leaned over on his arm and rested his face in his hand carelessly, as if he was bored with them. Even still, The Draygon Emperor’s mere presence demanded respect and Lyetaën wish he’d insisted on bathing before coming to see him.

“The General Is-draiq is dead.” Lyetaën told him bluntly. He knew as well any other man that the Emperor was not fond of dancing around the point.

The Emperor, Karvaat, sat back in his throne and stared at Lyetaën in stunned silence. “How?” He asked softly.

“Fellins.” Lyetaën hissed, “They came in the night and attacked Milkaas. They were organized, too organized for their race. They slit his throat in the night and torched the city, murdering whomever they came across. Women, children... no one was spared.”

“How cowardly!” Karvaat roared, slamming his fist down on the arm of his throne. “How dare they attack us so blatantly! One of my best Generals! How could this happen?”

“My Lord, we believe they may have had help.”

“Help?” Karvaat scoffed, “Who would possibly be foolish enough…” He stopped in mid sentence and stroked his chin. “Yes, of course…” He growled to himself. “Sir…Lyetaën, yes?”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“This is very troublesome news. I’m glad you harassed my attendant to see me.” He almost smiled, “I believe the Humans may be behind this recent attack.”

“The Humans, My Lord?” Lyetaën nearly choked on his own tongue. The Humans were terrified of the Draygons, and centuries of oppression had proved that they were passive in their hatred for the Draygons. To think that they would even think of helping a bunch of Fellins attack a Draygon city was beyond his comprehension.

“Yes, you may have heard rumours that the Crest of Adeini was stolen from the Temple on Yisosayi Island.” Karvaat continued, oblivious to Lyetaën’s disbelief.

“I have My Lord but…are you saying that these are not mere rumours?” Lyetaën questioned, aghast. It had been months since he’d heard anything of the robbery of the crest. He’s almost forgotten about it completely.

“So the Humans recruited the Fellins to attack Milkaas?” Lyetaën finished.

“It is possible. The Humans blamed the robbery on our race and now this…this is surely an act of war!”

Lyetaën frowned as he thought about it. The Crest of Adeini really had been stolen? Such a priceless artifact being stolen from its caretakers was enough to start a war, it wasn’t surprising that the Humans would strike back, but why would they recruit the Fellins? The Fellins also looked down on Humans as weaklings, but nothing else would make sense. The Raevyns were far too proud to come down from their floating fortresses to bother with the trials of the earth-walkers, as they called them. They thought themselves near to Gods, since they lived so close to the Heavens. It had to be the Humans.

“As your father’s son, I am obligated to offer you your father’s position as General.” Karvaat said unexpectedly. “Do you accept?”

Lyetaën blinked and looked up, momentarily catching the Emperor’s eyes before looking away. “General?” He asked. That was the last thing he wanted in the world. But, it was his duty as a son to avenge his father’s murder, and what better way than to become a General of an army? Lyetaën’s mind raced with the possibility. He could crush his enemies and avenge his father forever. But on the other hand, there was Paia to look after, and he really knew nothing of war. “I am sorry, my Lord,” Lyetaën nearly whispered, “But I cannot accept. I would make a terrible General, and I must also look after my younger sister.”

“I see,” The Emperor slouched back and tugged at his lower lip. “In that case, I will allow you to return to her immediately. But please, at least stay the night here. You look like you have had a long journey and you could use a good rest, some food and,” He wrinkled his nose slightly at Lyetaën and Bethare, “A bath as well.”

Lyetaën chuckled and nodded. “You are too kind, My Lord.”

“Make no mention of it,” The Emperor insisted, waving at an attendant to show them to the bathing chambers and their rooms for the night. As soon as they were out of the room, Bethare let out a long sigh of relief. “Damn, doesn’t royalty make ya nervous?” He cursed, pulling at his collar. Lyetaën just nodded absently as he dragged his feet down the hall.

The night passed slowly for him, and he wondered how Paia was doing without him. He wondered if she had driven Usk’ilk mad yet. After dealing with her for more than a week, he imagined his friend would never want to speak to him again.

Lyetaën ate and bathed without exchanging many words with Bethare, and had dismissed himself to his room to sleep soon after nightfall. Bethare, on the other hand, got roaring drunk and spent most of the night with the palace maids. He didn’t even step foot inside his room until Lyetaën was getting up, eager to set off for Gahel and his sister.

He caught Bethare in the hall way and rolled his eyes at him. Usually such irresponsibility was reserved for War’tiai. “Bethare,” Lyetaën let himself into his friend’s room and kicked his bed carelessly, “Bethare!” He hissed again.

“Huh?” His sleepy voice asked. “Whaddyawan?”

“I don’t have the patience to wait for you to get over your hangover.” Lyetaën announced, “I’m leaving now to go back to Gahel on my own.”

“Okay,” Bethare mumbled. Lyetaën doubted he had even heard him, but he didn’t care to wake the man again and make sure he understood that e was leaving. At least he had bothered to tell him at all. With a grunt, he kicked Bethare again, entirely out of spite, and to see him groaned and writhe in pain, and then turned for the door, chuckling as he left.

In another four days he would finally be back with Paia and they would be able to get on with their lives. The attack on Milkaas was in the Emperor’s hands now, and Lyetaën was glad to let him deal with it. He retrieved his horse from the stables and dug his heels into its flanks, sending it shooting like a dart up the steep incline the guarded the city and back to Gahel.

“Why the hell would you want to wait for him to come back?” Vives roared at her friend. They’d already had this argument a dozen times, but Vives just didn’t want to give it up. “We could escape this damned place and go back to Myana. Perhaps we could even join the resistance! We must avenge…”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Ri’Tai snapped back. “I’ve explained to you already. There’s nothing I want more than to go home. Perhaps we could find survivors. Maybe some day we could even find Rayk.”

“Ri’Tai,” Vives sighed, “You know he’s probably not alive…”

“I know!” Ri’Tai screamed. “I know that he’s probably dead but…I can’t just give up on him. He’s my best friend.”

“Well then why don’t you leave?”

“Because this is a Draygon continent. There’s nowhere to go and we’d only be captured again. Lyetaën isn’t violent, he’s never hurt me, so it’s safest to stay with him for now, until we get a real chance to go home.”

“But…”

“Please Vives, I want to go too but it’s just too risky. If you really want to go, Vives, I won’t stop you. But please don’t.”

Vives sighed and dropped down on the bed. “I’d never leave you Ri. You’d be hopeless without me.”

“That I would,” Ri’Tai agreed with a smile. She sat down next to her friend and sighed. “Lyetaën will be back soon, and then we can ‘persuade’ him the same way we did Usk’ilk.” Both girls giggled and looked over at Usk’ilk whom they had tied up and put in a corner. He glared nervously at them, but for the most part the girls ignored him. They put Paia in charge of him, and she took care of feeding him and told Ri’Tai and Vives when she thought he should be allowed to bathe or go to the bathroom. So far it was working out pretty well.

“Don’t worry, Usk’ilk.” Ri’Tai said in the Draygon tongue. “We’ll let you go once Lyetaën gets back. We can’t have you running around getting us in trouble though, now can we?” Usk’ilk said something angrily through his gag, but Ri’Tai just laughed. “I’m going to-“

She was cut up abruptly when the door flung open and a very tired-looking Lyetaën stumbled in. It didn’t take him long to notice that something wasn’t right. First he looked at Ri’Tai and Vives in confusion, then down at Usk’ilk, who was bound tightly in thick ropes. Paia smiled up at him innocently, pretending not to notice the questions in his eyes.

“I don’t even know where to start.” He groaned, rubbing his temples. “Why is that other human in my room? Why is Usk’ilk tied up? Why do you, Paia, not seem concerned by all this?”

Paia continued smiling. “Never mind,” Lyetaën groaned. “I think I can figure it out for myself. You, Ri’Tai, staged a rescue of your silly friend here and were forced to tie Usk’ilk up so he wouldn’t report you, am I right?”

“That’s about the gist of it,” Ri’Tai shrugged.

“And you,” Lyetaën glared at his sister, “You were in on this, weren’t you?” She said nothing. She just smiled.

Lyetaën resisted the urge to throw them all out the window in frustration. “Humans, vacate my bed immediately!” He nearly screamed. “Ri’Tai, let Usk’ilk go. And Usk’ilk, I would ask you not tell anyone about this, at least until I have had a chance to sleep and figure out what I’m going to do about it.”

Usk’ilk rubbed his jaw as Ri’Tai undid the gag around his mouth. “What is the meaning of this, Lye?” He asked urgently. “Your human pet shanghaied me and she speaks the Draygon tongue!”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. I’m very sorry about this Usk. I’ll explain everything tomorrow, I swear.”

Usk’ilk eyed him suspiciously, but decided that he would have to trust his long-time friend. He nodded curtly and hurried out of the room. Ri’Tai chuckled as she watched him go. “I scare the crap out of him.” She announced proudly.

“Ri’Tai,” Lyetaën hissed, “Not now. I’ll deal with you in the morning. Now step away from my bed!” He stomped passed Vives, who watched him anxiously, and fell face first onto the mattress. All he wanted to do was sleep, and kill Ri’Tai, but mostly sleep.

Morning came too quickly for Lyetaën, and when he sat up in his bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he saw that the sun was barely peeking above the rooftops. He had slept like a stone the night before, barely moving and completely unwilling to wake until he was fully rested. He had retired early the night before, which explained why he was able to get up so early that morning. Also, the issues pressing on his mind had not allowed him to sleep any longer than he needed to.

He dropped his feet over the side of his bed and groaned when his stiff muscles protested. The long journey from the Capital had been hard on him, and riding his horse that far had left the insides of his thighs stiff and tense. He stretched wearily for a moment before he allowed his thoughts to drift back to the previous evening.

Ri’Tai! He thought scathingly. That stupid human girl had broken her friend out of the slave camps and brought her back to his room! She had tied up Usk’ilk and probably caused a whole lot more trouble than that. Lyetaën growled angrily and wondered how many people she had killed while he left her alone with Paia and Usk’ilk, were both completely incapable of controlling her. He cursed himself for not telling Usk’ilk what the human girl was capable of. But he honestly didn’t believe she would pull a stunt like that!

He looked over at the small human girl, who was sleeping peacefully on the other bed, Paia tucked under her arm, and her willowy blonde friend sleeping head-to-feet with her. It was a little odd seeing all three of them crowded onto the tiny bed. After a quick glance at their sleeping forms, he felt his rage melting away and he actually felt a little bad for making them all sleep like that. He had let Ri’Tai sleep with him several times, and he could have done it again. But…she hadn’t come near him since he’d given her the Draygon tongue. He somehow doubted that she’d have gone for that.

Lyetaën groaned at his own sentimental thoughts. Why should he care about where a couple of stupid humans slept? With a new resolve, he stood up and stalked over to the opposite bed and shook Ri’Tai awake. She moaned in protest but eventually opened her eyes and stared, heavy-lidded, at him, waiting for him to say something.

“What?” She mumbled through the cotton still in her mouth, left from sleep.

“You still need to explain yourself.” Lyetaën said firmly, towering over her. Ri’Tai blinked a few times and then sat up lazily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She obviously wasn’t taking him very seriously. Lyetaën decided to make sure that she realized just how serious he was. Roughly he grabbed her shoulder and dragged her from the bed, nearly dropping her on the floor.

“Hey!” She half shouted, jolting awake.

“Tell me what the hell you’ve been up to, now.” He snarled. To his delight something akin to fear flashed in her eyes. “Well…” She started anxiously. “The night you left, Paia and I…”

“You brought Paia into this?” Lyetaën hissed. “What were you thinking?”

“I had to! She would have followed me if I didn’t give her something to do. Better to know where she is.”

She had him there, but Lyetaën would never admit it. He grunted at her to continue and listened with increasing rage as she explained how she had freed her friend, Vives, and killed six Draygons in the process. He didn’t even want to ask her how she’d managed that one.

“When we got back Usk’ilk saw Vives and was going to call the guard, so we jumped him and tied him up.”

“All week?”

She nodded numbly.

“And what were you planning to do when I got back?” He asked. He was aware that his voice was steadily rising in volume, and Paia and Vives both were sitting up in the bed to look at him. He couldn’t care less. “Well,” Ri’Tai shifted uncomfortably and glanced back at her friend. Even though Vives could not understand what was going on, she could figure out the general Idea of the conversation, and she glared at Lyetaën for all she was worth.

“I’m waiting,”

“We were planning on sticking with you until we got a good chance to escape back to Yisosayi island.” She admitted, studying her fingernails. Lyetaën blinked in surprise, and then laughed. “You really think you could escape me?”

“Yes,” Ri’Tai replied blandly. “And if you try to stop us, we would kill you.”

Paia gasped, but both ignored her. “You think you could kill me?” Lyetaën chuckled.

“We did take on six of your guards, Lyetaën. We could easily overcome you.”

“So now you think you’re the master, do you Ri’Tai?” Lyetaën glowered, “But you couldn’t kill me before, what makes you think you could finally find the nerve?”

“If I needed to,” Ri’Tai hissed, “I could do it. I have no love for you, Lyetaën. And even if it means leaving your sister without a single shred of family, I will kill you if you try to hinder our escape.”

Lyetaën looked in her eyes and gulped. He could tell that she was not playing games with him. She really would kill him if it came to that, and if Vives was as good as Ri’Tai, he doubted he could put up much of a fight. Still, he refused to show fear in front of her and nodded stiffly at Ri’Tai. “Alright,” He said finally, “Suppose I did let you escape. But have you ever considered that collar you wear?”

“My collar?” Ri’Tai gingerly fingered the strap of leather around her neck. “What about it?”

“You’ve never tried to take it off by yourself, have you?”

Frowning, Ri’Tai reached for the buckle at the back of her neck and jumped when a blot of electricity shot through her fingers at the touch. “How…?”

“Magic, you can’t take it off. Only I can. And so long as you wear it I will be able to find you no matter where you are. If you leave, Ri’Tai, I will simply hunt you down and bring you back.”

“Then I’ll kill you!” She roared. “I’ll kill you right now!” She lunged for her stolen sword, resting against the foot of the bed, but Lyetaën grabbed her arm before she could get close. Her speed and skill was no match for his brute strength. She tried to swing her legs under him, half-heartedly, and he dodged her easily. She knew that without him she had no hope of getting off the Draygon continent. With a glare, Lyetaën tossed her back down onto her bed. “If I let you go when you want, Ri’Tai, you will not kill me. I know you won’t, because I have never hurt you. You said yourself you wouldn’t kill me just to escape. Don’t you remember?”

Ri’Tai glared at him for all she was worth, but she knew that he was right. So long as he never harmed her, she couldn’t go against her honour-code and kill him. Vives jumped to her feet, ready to defend her friend, but Ri’Tai grabbed her sleeve and shook her head. “Forget it, Vives.” She sighed, and then she proceeded to explain what Lyetaën had said. Vives eyes grew angry and she spit at the Draygon’s feet. Thankfully, Lyetaën simply stepped out of the way and decided not to lash out in anger.

“So what’s the plan, then?” Vives asked finally.

“We follow Lyetaën,” She sighed dejectedly, “Sooner or later we’ll get an opportunity to steal a boat and return to Yisosayi. We just have to be patient. As it stands, our hands are tied.”