Aetherian(Part 1): A War Begins

Valeria

 The next few months in Alessia were unkind to both Val, and the Alessian army. The southern half of the eastern country was more militarized than the north, and Val's army had only taken over a single city, Shadowlight, after a month of besieging the city. Naturally, Torinn Bloodbane and the Omura brothers were always on the front lines, which is where Val wished she would be, with her soldiers, but Caira always advised against it, and she trusted her counsel. A Queen's place wouldn't be on the front lines of a war, anyways. That was the place for a King, though there were a few warrior Queens in Aetherian's history. Kara the First, who was also known as Kara the Red, Adelaide Karvine, who was known for being able to fight off an army of a thousand with the aid of Araxes, and Val's mother. She hadn't heard anything of how Kara the Tenth died, but she must have been killed along with her father, King Brandon Karvine. All Val could remember of her mother was seeing her mount Brightfyre, while her father mounted Araxes. Both of the dragons lifted themselves into the air with their riders, followed by Armagan and Vhagar. None of them ever returned. Before she learned that her parents and all four of their dragons were killed, Caira Vestarr came to the Ivory Tower and took Val, Harland, a wounded Torinn Bloodbane, and what was left of the Draconians, and fled to Alessia as fast as they could. Harland was poisoned when they were both ten years old, Torinn was enraged so much that Caira had to freeze him to calm him down, and Val was alone. The last ones that she had considered even close to family were Torinn and Caira since they were the ones who had looked after her for most of her life. Trevor and Mercy, her younger brother and sister, were in Aetherian, probably at the mercy of Robar Busch. She knew she needed to finish her war in Alessia, and sail her army across the Sunrise Ocean, Zenartha's largest ocean, as fast as she could.

"Your Grace?" Caira suddenly called to her.

"Yes?" said Valeria.

"The Alessian Prime Minister requests an audience."

"Does he, now?" asked Val. "Now, he wants to speak with me?"

"Maybe crushing the northern half of his country, and then spending a season pushing his forces to the brink of exhaustion changed his mind," Caira suggested. "I would."

"Our forces aren't doing much better," Val reminded. "But we're winning, aren't we?"

"Maybe that's why the Prime Minister wants to speak with you, to negotiate a surrender," said Caira.

"Well, let's not keep him waiting," Val suggested. Caira led her to a large room in the capitol building of Meridian, where on the back wall, a large screen had the image of Prime Minister Ander.

"I apologize for the suddenness of this meeting, Your Grace," he said.

"You have a lot more than that to apologize for," Val reminded. "If you hadn't been so arrogant, I would be out of your hair by now."

"I made the call to discuss terms of surrender, not to trade insults with you," Ander scolded.

"My terms are simple," Val started. "You will return the fleet that you stole from me and my brother during our first few years in this country, and hand us whatever additional vessels we might require. In return, we'll leave your country and people alone, and sail east."

"There's been a miscommunication, Your Grace," the Prime Minister chuckled. "We're speaking to discuss terms of your surrender, not mine." Another person came into the screen on Ander's end of the call. He was wearing a dark cloak, and had long, dark hair, with silver eyes.

"An Epsilon?" said Caira.

"I know who he is, Caira," Val corrected. "Am I speaking to Rivenar Jarolan?"

"That you are, girl," said Rivenar.

"You address her as 'Your Grace', Epsilon," Caira scolded.

"She's not my Queen, Vestarr," Rivenar corrected, then he gestured to Ander and said, "She's not their Queen, either."

"I'm still a Queen," said Valeria. "I'm only trying to get home."

"Aetherian hasn't been your home for fifteen years," Rivenar reminded.

"I was born there," Val corrected.

"I know," said Rivenar. "So was your younger brother."

"Whatever family I had, they're all dead," Valeria reminded. "I don't have a younger brother anymore."

"Well, you have a lot to catch up on, then," said Rivenar. "You have one surviving sibling, in the Ivory Tower of Mistral. You will be relieved to know that in the past few months, he's resisted six attempts on his life at our hands."

"What do you mean?" asked Val.

"You didn't know?" said Rivenar. "He's a Guardian, Your Grace. Far more powerful than any other I've met. His power will not keep him safe for long, though, and nothing will keep you safe from us."