Rune and Ruin

Seeds of the Gods - 28 - Scent of Spring

391 B.C.E. - City of Caere, Coast of the Tasurian Peninsula, Spring, Month of Maius

In His Memory

'Welcome to Caere, General,' Falx told himself, hiding his smirk behind an emotionless mask. Not that he felt much emotion beyond a faint sense of triumph. He was too exhausted for anything more. That may be why, after two years of hard campaigning and brutal battle, he was willing to bargain with these bastards. A long time had passed since he last had bargained for a city rather than taken it by force.

The Acerian. Falerri. Her.

His scowl blackened, making the pathetic fool in front of him visibly quake with nerves. The quivering Acera male was only a messenger. No one of any importance. The king of Caere, or former king, Falx supposed, had chosen to send a nobody to give the city to the Warlord.

Caere was the last Acerian city of this campaign. On the surface, it was the crowning glory to erase the failures of the Fyrrin House in the Senate. The truth was messier. This was his last chance to find Thania.

She wouldn't be here. Falx had long stopped hoping she would reappear in his life. He would take this city for the sake of his campaign, of the ambitions that swam in his demon's heart, curdling like milk left out during a summer's night.

Falx wanted this city. He wanted the bustling port, the strong defensive walls, and the wealthy trade routes. The now-deposed king of Caere would take as much treasure as he could with him as he fled. Falx knew this; he was no fool, but baubles and jewelry were not the culmination of Caere's worth.

The golden port city of Caere, situated at the natural harbor of the mouth of two rivers and a half-league from the Tyrrhenian Sea, had natural defenses essential to their plan. His oath brothers, the only two souls that kept Falx from losing himself to the Change these last two years, needed this plan. They needed something to keep their minds from the plague that seemed to industriously kill off every tiny hatchling the Tasuri of Rune bore.

He knew this temple was the key to controlling the city folk, who were dedicated to their goddesses and, by extension, their priests and priestesses. They would establish their dominance over Caere and use the city to mount their rebellion. Falx would demand equal standing to the emperor, and the three of them would rule Caere.

And then...

An image of haunting grey eyes swam before him, but Falx ruthlessly pushed it down. Once Caere was established as their new war base, he could focus on filling the void he felt inside.

"You are dismissed. Tell the priests and priestesses to assemble in the yard."

The man nodded and fled. Falx strode to the window and looked out at the milling crowd below. He enjoyed this. Enjoyed knowing that he could observe them without anyone knowing they were being watched.

A slim figure of a priestess in dark blue robes hurried by towards the temple of the moon goddess. At the bottom of the stairs, she paused and turned. A hint of dark hair poked out of the cowled hood she wore. Her face was tiled down, and from his perch above, Falx couldn't see her features, but she was so familiar it made his heart catch and his demon's tail twitch with interest.

The priestess spun around again and slipped into the sanctuary. Falx's demon sagged in defeat, resuming the snarling, prickly posture that had become his familiar pose over the last years.

Bowing his head, Falx shuddered as his body responded to the lithe form of the priestess. Maybe he could sate his lust, just this once.

Almost immediately, gorge rose in his throat. His demon hissed in agitation. Claws erupted from his fingers, and his scales rippled along his forearms.

Disgusted with himself, Falx pushed off the window and began to pace. He would find his female. She was resourceful. Maybe she had gone to the northern Acerian lands, where her people clung to life, caught between a growing Rune and the barbarians.

"Falx, it is time." Quintus brought him out of his silent musings.

Falx rested his hand on the pommel of his sword and descended the staircase. Stepping into the sunlight, he squinted. The crowd parted for him as he strode to the dias on the portico of the mother goddess's temple. This was it, their new beginning.