This fic was originally published HERE.
Alex finished his sigh after an eternity had passed. The dragon didn't
like talking to people and he also didn't like simplifying things. He
preferred talking to Crayak who could at least follow his thoughts
without having to ask too many questions. I, while not lacking in
intelligence, couldn't always follow what he was talking about.
"You
realize how difficult explaining this will be?" Alex asked. "There are
many dragons and clans that thrive on illusions. Serving the
Shadowbinder means that many clans around us are experts in illusions.
But what Seitou asks of me is something far beyond illusions. He doesn't
want me to just fool others about what I look like, but to become the
illusion in flesh and blood."
I nodded. While the mastery of
illusions was beyond me, I had seen those who could call illusions up at
a moment's notice. They had been able to distract me for a moment on
the battlefield which sometimes nearly cost me the battle. Some were so
good that I had thought my sword had ended their life before seeing them
running away.
Seitou wanted morphing technology that was
different. He wanted those of the Dracomorphs to be able to become
different breeds or species. This would help us to hide our involvement.
And if we needed to fight...sometimes my body had its limits which
others didn't possess. Though I was loathe to admit that to anyone.
"Imagine
the difficulty of morphing size differences. If it was by just a few
inches or feet that would be doable. That would make this task easier."
Alex said and shook his head. "The size difference between a Fae and an
Imperial is like the difference between a dragon and the whole of
Sornieth."
"So Elfangor is thinking about having at least one Fae on the team?" I asked.
"I
am not privy to this thoughts. I am only privy to the fact that Seitou
wants a new form of morphing technology. So my job requires me to
prepare for anything. Maybe there will be a Fae on the team or maybe an
Imperial."
Marco and Mary Graham were extremely good candidates
for the Dracomorphs. While the former spoke mainly in jokes, he was also
good at his job. Few dragons could be so cold in their decisions on
what should be done. Though ruthless with his decisions, they were
always made for the betterment of the clan. He didn't want to lose any
of his friends.
Mary, though kind and shy, was not above making
hard calls. She hadn't lost most of her patients but she always knew
when a dragon was too far gone for help. Those weren't easy calls to
make and yet she made them.
"Would you really want to work with
Marco?" Alex asked. "Mary isn't the only Fae in the clan. Elfangor could
very well choose the dragon who makes important decisions outside of
the scope of morality. The war with the demons will require many of
those."
"Marco is annoying but not immoral." I argued. "All of his decisions have been for the betterment of the clan."
"When the bodies pile up, will that belief bring you any comfort?"
My
wings tightened against my body at the insult. But no matter how angry I
wanted to be at him, he was right. The fact that Marco could be so cold
and calculated while making important decisions meant bodies would pile
up. It would be better for others to die than the clan to be harmed.
"I
don't know." I replied as my wings loosened. "I don't know what costs
will have to be paid in order for Sornieth to remain safe. If these
demons are in league with the Shade, defeating them could be a deadly
blow. Maybe the death toll will leave me satisfied by the end. You can't
tell how you'll feel about a war until after it's done."
"I'll take your word, Jorah." Alex replied with a nod.
"Besides the size of different morphs, what other problems does the morphing technology currently have?"
"Tell me how do you know how to move?"
"I just put one foot in front of the other?"
"How do you know that?"
"When I was a ha-"
"Exactly."
I
was more than confused by Alex's Shade eating grin. It was as if my
answer had pleased him in some manner. I had both given him the correct
answer while remaining oblivious to its meaning. That's probably why my
husband was so pleased with himself. Which meant the only way to win was
to figure out what my answer meant.
"I don't have to focus on
how I walk because I learned how to so long ago." I said and he nodded
eagerly. "So even if you just allowed dragons the ability to change into
other creatures, they wouldn't know how to do something as simple as
walking."
"Now if there wasn't a war on the horizon, the
Dracomorphs could spend as much time as needed to learn about every
creature on Sornieth." Alex replied. "Or at least study about the most
useful morphs. There is too much life on the continent to ever truly
know everything. Even the eldest dragons have gaps in their knowledge."
While
not the most pleasant dragon, Alex was more than intelligent. He had
been able to focus on problems before they happened with the morphing
technology. The pressure he must be under to create new technology in
the clan in time for the war must be immense.
"Does Crayak have any idea how to fix those problems?" I asked.
"Crayak
is better at destruction than anything else." Alex scoffed. "They do
have good opinions from time to time. But they haven't been able to
figure out any solutions to my current problems."
"Does Crayak go by they? I thought Crayak went by he?"
"I
work with them but they don't consider me a friend. I think they are
non-binary but haven't figured out Crayak's pronouns. Don't know why
they hold onto that secret even after all this time."
Elfangor
roared out and I looked to the center of the clearing. The Head of the
Warrior Department sat in the middle and yet his roar had sounded like
it had come from right beside me. Unlike me who stood on two hind legs,
the Mirror stood on four legs and had four eyes. Two above the other on
his face scanned the crowd.
"I am honored that so many of you
participated in this mock battle." Elfangor's magically enhanced voice
said. "Demons have started invading Sornieth and we owe it to our
brethren to fight back. But the weakest among us can't be trusted to win
that fight. So to help me in choosing who to become a member of the
Dracomorphs, I set up this mock battle."
Before I could stop it,
my tail flicked back and forth. I wanted to be a Dracomorph and hoped
the Mirror saw that I was a good fit. I would die willingly for a good
cause. Not because I wished for death, but because it was the honorable
thing to do.
"All of you were reduced to your essences today."
Elfangor continued, his sea-like colors not blending in too well with
the thin grass. "I needed to make sure of who you were when you fight. I
needed to make sure if your sword or armor were lost, you wouldn't give
up hope. Dragons are more than just blades and armor!"
Myself
and the rest of the Warrior Department roared in agreement. While I
wouldn't want to go into battle without Heartsbane, I was more than my
sword. I was much more than the Ghastcrown and veil that protected my
face.
Alex and I turned when a soft wind hit our backs. Scourge
had landed to our right and was fixated on Elfangor. After a moment she
turned to look at me and then Alex. Now that the mock battle was over, I
knew that she would never hurt or betray me. She would fight tooth and
claw to aid me in whatever battle I was fighting.
"You fought well, Alex." Scourge said. "A great improvement since last time."
"I wouldn't have done so well if not for you." Alex replied with a smile.
"I
had thought a Yun-Harla would be the final victor of this mock battle."
Elfangor continued. "And while one of their members was the second to
last to fall, neither Yun-Harla or Warrior won. This should be a lesson
to all of you that it doesn't matter what department you're in, you are
powerful. It is even greater evidence that the Dracomorphs shouldn't all
come from one department."
Though what Elfangor said was true,
Scourge had an advantage none of us had. She had been raised on the
brink of madness and was somehow still sane. Due to her constant
departures from the clan's territory, it was impossible for her to be
part of the Warrior Department. Warriors had to be ready to be called at
a moment's notice.
The sight of her made me long for Daenerys so
that both wives could be here. My first wife was on a diplomatic
mission in a world where a strange new threat thrived. We did not know
what the demons wanted except that they were willing to remove freedom
from dragonkind. It was also possible they would start to infest the
Beast Clans. With the Beast Clans conquered they could easily hide the
truth of their conquest from the majority of Sornieth. Most would
perceive the demons as just more members of the Beast Clans wanting to
reclaim the continent from the dragons.
My love and former queen
did not deserve to face such threats. She had faced one too many already
and I couldn't help but blame myself. So many years ago she had been
made queen of the Fire in Ice Clan in the Southern Icefield. Unlike many
rulers that had come before, she loved her people though she shielded
her kind heart from most. But many had still seen how loving she was
underneath her exterior.
Around that time I had been longing to
get back to my clan in the Sunbeam Ruins. I had...committed crimes that
were shameful all for a wife that had eventually left me. To please the
rulers of my birth clan all I had to do was spy on the young Imperial.
Something that was easy enough to do but then everything changed.
Instead of feeling any longing to be back with my birth clan, all I
wanted was to spend an eternity with her.
But I was exiled upon
her taking the throne as she found out why I had originally stood by her
side. A lesser man would complain how what she did wasn't fair and
simply walk away. But I was aware of the hole I had torn in her heart
and made every effort to show her that I was a better man now. It didn't
matter to the queen and I didn't blame her.
While I was making
my efforts to win a place by her side, an uprising happened and her life
was in danger. I could have flown away and no one would blame me. But I
risked my life for her that day and was rewarded with her being alive.
Then...then the impossible happened: she admitted how she loved me all
along and was willing to spend her life with me.
Daenerys had
been so shaken with the uprising that she decided never to be a queen
again. I knew that the only place she truly belonged was on a throne,
but I would always defer to what she wanted. If she didn't want a throne
or crown I wouldn't love her any less.
"If you fell early this
time, don't despair as next time could be different." Elfangor said,
breaking me from my thoughts. "Sometimes you only win a battle because
of luck. Skill isn't everything at the end of the day. As my Warriors
can attest to."
I looked at Scourge and Alex who were both paying
close attention to Elfangor's words. She was beautiful as well as
deadly. I had met her shortly after being banished from my birth clan
when I had contracted greyscale. The disease wasn't as deadly as before
and tended to only exist in the border between the Scarred Wastelands
and the Tangled Wood. It would have spread farther but those suffering
from greyscale didn't tend to make it that far. Victims tended to go mad
and kill themselves.
It was luck, or maybe destiny, that brought
Scourge to me in my moment of need. She had suffered from the terrible
disease before being cured and offered to do the same for me. As the
final symptoms of madness were starting to form in my mind, I said yes
as there had been nothing else to lose. It had been a difficult
procedure, but Scourge cured me and I felt a great longing for her. If
only I had known that the feeling had really been love, I could have
avoided her ever finding completeness in Alex's arms.
The
Wildclaw did have his moments and I enjoyed his company from time to
time. But his moral compass was broken and only recently was starting to
show signs of being fixed. It could be that Scourge was having an
impact on him that he couldn't deny. Or maybe it was the fact that she
had faked her own death to avoid being with him for some time. In any
case he was slowly starting to do better and make the Shadowbinder
proud.
It probably wasn't an honorable thought to imagine one of
those you loved being constrained to what you approved. I had fallen for
Daenerys before I realized how I felt. How would I feel if Scourge
stated she wanted to change the past so I would have never met the
Imperial? While enduring Alex was hard at times, I had Scourge's love
and that was more important.
"This time Scourge won but that
won't always be the case." Elfangor continued and I realized he had been
speaking for longer than I'd been listening. "She tends to win mock
battles because she has far more experience than any of us. The area
outside of the continent isn't traversed for a reason. It is a place of
madness where only the strong survive. It's a place that the
Plaguebringer can only dream of."
Scourge looked more than
interested than before. I could understand why as the Mirror had
acknowledged she had won a mock battle whose entire purpose was to help
find members for the Dracomorphs. He would now have to say that she was
the first member of the Dracomorphs!
"I know many of you expect
me to say that Scourge not only won this mock battle but she is now a
member of the Dracomorphs." Elfangor said. "It's what most would say
about practices such as these. I made this mock battle for the sole
purpose of helping to form the Dracomorphs so of course the winner would
become a member."
I saw Rin putting her white wing over Virus'
black head. If she was accepted into the Dracomorphs then he would be
forced to either fight or remain in the clan. It tore at each of them
whenever either had to go off on different diplomacy missions. How much
worse would it be if Virus was forced to stay behind and pray to the
Shadowbinder that he didn't hear news of her death?
"I don't care
who won, I care how each dragon fought." Elfangor continued. "I care
about the cunning of each dragon as well as how they handle defeat. I do
care about who won and that will affect my decision, but it isn't my
sole criteria. Scourge won the mock battle but that doesn't mean she
will become a Dracomorph. Finally, my decision on who becomes a part of
Dracomorphs won't be decided by favoritism. I'm not risking all of
Sornieth because I like one dragon over another."
I had heard
that a few dragons had tried to bribe their way into Dracomorphs. Vornz
was always a reliable dragon on such matters. He had never specified
which dragons and it might be that he was among their numbers. I could
understand his needs as he was good at diplomacy and I assumed there
would be at least one diplomat on the team.
"You are now dismissed." Elfangor said. "Refreshments have been prepared."
With
that he walked to where Birchurawkp, his partner, was. I turned to my
wife and husband. We nodded as one and then started to walk towards
where a series of tents had been erected. There was enough food and
drink to feed an army. It wasn't the same as a feast, though, as this
food had been selected to restore everyone's energy. Which meant Axx
would be disappointed that there weren't any cinnamon buns.
The
food was being served by hatchlings who would eventually be sold as
indentured service. This provided the clan with funding as well as
giving each hatchling a steady job and experience until they reached
adulthood. Some former indentured servants had become respected in
varying fields. I looked at one who was making a group of three dragons
salads. He looked over to me and bowed in respect. My attention was
drawn to a small tent who had five hatchlings preparing soup for a large
group of dragons. The smell coming from there was appealing.
"Does anyone else want to try the soup?" I asked.
"I was thinking noodles." Alex replied.
"I want meat." Scourge added.
"Noodles and soup can have meat." I replied. "Which do you want?"
"Soup is like blood." Scourge said after a moment and started walking to the soup tent.
Luckily
for Alex, there was just enough noodles for his soup bowl. We found a
comfortable place to sit away from everyone else. I didn't like Alex
but...I also didn't know what I'd do without him. He had become an
important part of my life.
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