Aetherian(Part 1): A War Begins

Torinn

  Torinn Bloodbane and the rest of the golden-scaled Draconians of Queen Valeria's army wore suits of armor made from glass malakyte that was painted crimson, but Torinn had his chest plate crested with the Karvines' sigil of the golden dragon, and a crimson cape with the sigil sewn into it. For ten thousand years, the golden-scaled Draconians have served House Karvine as their soldiers, and Torinn, standing at a foot taller than the other Draconians, served as their leader. He had sworn to lead the army of House Karvine, and protect the family itself. Too many Kings and Queens had passed away in the last ten thousand years for him to count. He'd been with half of them when they died, either in battle, at their side, or holding them in his arms. Torinn had contemplated that the same thing would happen with Valeria, and maybe her two siblings, if they were alive, but not before he had won her the Dragon Throne from Robar Busch. He fought for Valeria because she always seemed to know what the right thing to do was, unlike a few of her ancestors. Torinn had served good Kings, strong Kings, idiot Kings, and mad Kings. Val wasn't stupid or mad, and Torinn knew it. There was a sense of purity in the young Queen that Torinn had seen from her father, and her twin brother. Valeria knew Aetherian was divided since not everyone was happy with House Busch ruling them, and she would have done anything to see herself on the Dragon Throne if it would bring the country together again, including enlisting the help of mercenaries. The Moonblade Brotherhood was known for their ferociousness if they were paid enough. If they had any kind of loyalty, it was to gold, and nothing else. Still, there weren't many Draconians left, and the Brotherhood had extra numbers. It was midnight in Alessia, and midday in Aetherian when Torinn Bloodbane and Caira Vestarr accompanied Valeria to Alessia's western shore, with the light of the full moon bouncing off of the dark water and sand. As more hours passed, with no sign of the Brotherhood, the three began to have doubts of whether they would show up at all.  

 "Perhaps we did need to pay them in advance," Torinn suggested, speaking in Draconic.

"I sent them a few thousand gold pieces just to talk to us," said Caira.

"They make you pay for everything, don't they?" complained Torinn. "This is exactly why I do not trust warriors who follow coin."

"The real power that rules people is gold, Torinn," said Caira. "Trust me, no other thing is more demoralizing."

"And if someone else pays them more?"

"Shh," Valeria hushed, growing irritated with their arguing. "You make it to where I can barely hear myself think."

"Apologies, Your Grace," said Torinn. He had great trust for Caira since she was the one who managed to smuggle Val and her brother, along with Torinn and the other Draconians, out of Aetherian and all the way across Zenartha. Her judgment had proven to excel even his at times. Torinn had learned the Common Tongue in the ten thousand years that he'd served the Karvines, and he understood what Caira suggested to Val after yet another hour of waiting.

"It could be that they were captured by the Alessians, my Queen," she implied.

"They wouldn't be famous mercenaries if they were easy to catch, would they?" asked Val.

"No, they wouldn't," answered Caira. "Maybe they're just delayed."

"Will we be waiting any longer if that's the case?" asked Torinn.

"Probably," said Caira. Soon, the three could eye a faint light in the darkness that hung above the sea.

"Is that them?" asked Val.

"Can't tell," answered Caira. The light grew, and a small boat soon arrived at the shore, with two men in it. One of them wore a suit of light, cyan armor with the crest of a blade inside of a full moon on the helmet, and had long, dark hair tied in a tail in the back of his head. The other one wore a long, blue jacket with the same sigil on one of his shoulders, and had a short beard, with brown hair. When they stepped out of their boat, Torinn and Caira stepped closer to Val.

"This is all very secret," said the one in the armor.

"You can't be too careful, can you?" asked Valeria. "I'm sorry for the lateness of this meeting."

"Your lady here told us about the incident with the spy," the one in the jacket pointed out, looking to Caira. "It's fine with us."

"I'm Omura Satoru," said the armored one.

"I'm Omura Michio," the one in the jacket added.

"Brothers?" asked Val, and Satoru nodded his head.

"Oh, we brought something," exclaimed Michio, as if he was remembering something. He went back to the boat, and he lifted blankets off of a wooden box with golden hinges. When the mercenary went to hand the box to Valeria, Torinn stepped in front of her to take it, but she waved him away.

"We always give our clients a sort of 'thank you for hiring us' gift," Michio explained. "When we were told that you were Aetherian's rightful Queen, we could think of nothing better." Val took the box from him, then she, Caira, and Torinn looked inside as she opened it. Their eyes widened at what they saw. Four, golden-scaled dragon eggs were in it. None were more perplexed than Valeria. Her eyes were widened the most.

"What is it, Your Grace?" Torinn asked, in Draconic.

"They're alive," Val answered, then she looked back to the Omura brothers, and said in the Common Tongue "Your gift is much appreciated. Perhaps we can discuss figures, now. I'm afraid we can't pay you in advance."

"Well, our rules are that a client just has to pay us, not when they have to," assured Satoru.

"The Highlands of Aetherian is home to the wealthiest people in that country," said Caira.

"House Lysander?" asked Satoru. "We've heard a few things about them. Apparently, they and House Vestarr are at each other's throats. Not a bad time to strike."

"You're forgetting about the war a year ago," reminded Michio.

"Oh, yeah," Satoru corrected himself. "What has been suggested to you?"

"Robar Busch is weakened, and that we should attack from the south," answered Val.

"Sounds reasonable," agreed Michio. "The Sandlands are still in shambles, after all. I assure you, Your Grace, every one of us is worth as much as a dozen Aetherian Knights."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Valeria. "Of course, we have to get to Aetherian, and we need ships for that."

"Well, usually, a navy wouldn't let you have their entire fleet," reminded Satoru.

"We had a fleet," said Torinn. "The Alessians took it from us."

"So, they won't let you leave?" asked Michio. "We could take care of that. We have ships. Not enough for both us and the Draconians, though. If you want to leave Alessia, Your Grace, you'll have to either capture the Alessian ships or fight your way out." Torinn didn't know what to feel about what he was hearing. The brothers were absolutely right, but they were telling Val to start a war that she wasn't yet ready to fight. The war she was born to fight would be in Aetherian, not Alessia.

"What can you do to help us get those ships?" Caira asked.

"Lots of things," answered Satoru. "When do you think you can be ready to march?"

"Torinn?" Val asked.

"Twelve hours, maybe less," answered Torinn. "Shall I inform them?"

"Not yet," said Valeria, then she turned back to the brothers and asked "What about Mistral? Do you think you could take that city?"

"We can take any city you pay us to take," answered Michio. "As long as the gold is good."

"Just give the word, Your Grace," agreed Satoru. It was no surprise that the Moonblade Brotherhood pretended like they believed in Valeria's cause, but they didn't seem to care. The only thing they cared about was money.