Aetherian(Part 1): A War Begins

Roderick

 Roderick, Damien, and Darien, all listened to Trevor and Illyria as they explained what they found in Princess Andrella's solar. Prince Roderick didn't trust either of them with his sister's whereabouts, even though his older half-brothers did.

"Do you know how crazy this is?" he said.

"I have a good idea, brother," assured Damien.

"I don't think you do," said Roderick, then he whispered, "We're trusting the word of an assassin that can apparently see what we can't."

"Do you want to find Andrella or not?" asked Damien, whispering. "Illyria's a friend of Trevor."

"Who tried to murder him last night," Roderick reminded.

"Come on," said Damien, and he pulled Roderick out into the halls. "You need to calm down."

"Calm down!?" snapped Roderick. "My sister's missing, and you're asking me to trust the word of a stranger."

"You know Trevor,"

"I'm not talking about Trevor, I'm talking about that Epsilon chick."

"Do you hear yourself?" asked Damien. "Do you have any idea who you sound like?" Roderick couldn't say. "Darien, when your mother even looks at him. Hey, Andrella's my sister, too." Damien couldn't imagine what was going through Roderick's head right now, though. He didn't know Andrella like Roderick did, with Queen Alicent keeping her own children as far away from him and Darien as possible for half their lives.

"I didn't know her as well as you did, obviously," Damien admitted. "But I'm just as worried as you are. Think about your mother. She went to Trevor, the one whose father our father killed, and a stranger that was affiliated with a group who, as far as we know, wants all of humanity dead. Please trust them, and if not, trust me, and Darien." Roderick calmed himself down after a few deep breaths.

"Guys?" Ser Darien suddenly called to them. "We found her." Damien and Roderick went back into the solar, and Trevor explained what they had found.

"Noltheim's a fortress that was built during the Dragon War," he said, reading from a thick, and dusty book. "It's hundreds of miles to the west, in the mountains."

"The Skyspears?" asked Darien. "How would she get anywhere near that place in such a short time?"

"Well, during the time it was built, the quickest, and easiest, way to get anywhere was on the back of a dragon," answered Trevor. "Which wasn't exactly something everyone could do."

"Well, it's not like the dragons were the only things that could fly ten thousand years ago, right?" asked Roderick.

"No, there were, and still are, rocs, wyverns, pegasi, and a lot of other things, but the dragons were the biggest and fastest," said Illyria. "So, the Princess had to fly there."

"So, she could have ordered a pilot to take her there," Darien suggested.

"Who keeps track of the aircraft that leave the Ivory Tower?" asked Trevor. The landing pad was at the base of the Tower, on its western side, where the air force of the Royal House Busch kept its military aircraft stored. Dropships, VTOL fighter-bombers, and helicopters were docked on its concrete ground. Hopefully, one of the dropships would have been used last night, and they could follow it to the ruins in the Skyspear Mountains. The flight officer in the traffic tower didn't seem to know what they were talking about, though.

"I'm sorry, my lords, Prince Roderick, but other than a few fighters going on sorties, there wasn't a single aircraft that left the Tower last night," he swore.

"My sister is missing," Roderick snapped. "We didn't come here for nothing."

"I am sorry," said the flight officer. "There is nothing."

"There's no other way she could have gone that distance so quickly!"

"Roderick," Damien coughed, then he looked to the flight officer and said, "Thank you for your time, man."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you," said the flight officer. On the elevator ride down the traffic tower, Roderick, Darien, and Damien were all torn about whether the flight officer was telling the whole truth or not.

"There's no way," Darien asserted. "She's terrified of magic, and these days, aircraft are the fastest things in the sky."

"He wasn't lying, guys," said Trevor, and their doubts were put to rest. Roderick seemed to have a harder time accepting it, though, but he had a good idea of what else Andrella would have done, but it was still unlikely. She must have used some kind of warping magic to transport herself to Noltheim.

"Are you absolutely sure, Trevor?" asked Roderick.

"I promise you, he wasn't," assured Trevor.

"Okay," said Roderick. "So, how else would Andrella have gotten so far west?"

"If she was learning Fae, then she would have figured out a spell that would have allowed herself to take herself anywhere on Zenartha, right?" Darien suggested. "So, that's what she must have done."

"But it takes years to master spells like that," said Illyria.

"Years for Epsilon," Damien corrected. "And she still has to have been there before."

"The Queen told me she's been having these weird dreams," said Trevor. "Maybe she dreamed of Noltheim and found out exactly where it was."

"Well, now, we have to get over there," said Roderick. A large transport helicopter was prepared for them, and they flew it to the Skyspear Mountains, in the far western Kinglands. It was a huge mountain range, still with snow on the peaks from winter last year.

"Well, this is definitely different from the last mountain range I was at," said Darien.

"Tell me about it," agreed Trevor. When they saw a stone platform between two of the biggest mountains, he suddenly said: "Wait, I've been here before."

"You have?" asked Darien, as the helicopter landed on the platform.

"Remember when I told you about the ruins Commander Vestarr has been sending me to?" said Trevor, as they climbed out of the helicopter. "This is one of them."

"Was it one of the duds?" asked Darien.

"Yes, it was," answered Trevor. "I don't know why anyone would come here, much less the Princess."

"Right." agreed Roderick.

"Are you sure there was nothing, Trevor?" asked Illyria. "Somethings here, now."

"Yeah, I do feel something," Trevor agreed, as they began walking down a stone path through the mountains.

"So, what did you find last time you were here?" asked Prince Roderick.

"It was supposed to be some kind of safe haven for nobles and Kings during times of war," said Trevor. "In case enemy forces got too close to Mistral. There's a farm under a huge radiant crystal inside. For an ancient bunker, you could probably last decades in here."

"And nothing else?" asked Darien.

"There wasn't anything last time I was here," said Trevor. "Now, there's something dark and evil."

"That's comforting," added Roderick. They arrived at a large, round gate at the end of the path. It was wide and tall, big enough for someone at least ten feet tall to walk through, the height of Draconians.

"Let's see," Trevor observed. "How did I get in here last time? How did Andrella get in here?"

"Well, let's see," said Illyria, and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were glowing blue.

"What are you doing?" asked Roderick.

"I don't think she can hear you, Roderick," said Damien.

"She's looking into the past," Trevor enlightened. "She's the one who found out that Andrella wasn't kidnapped. If anyone can find out how she got in here, it's her."