Plight of an Empire

Chapter Thirty Two- part 1: Arkayus

The Nolord River, Rundil

“How strange,” Lord Storn Colgrave mused to Arkayus.  “A springtime snow is uncommon, even rarer during the late spring.”  Arkayus watched the flakes dance around him, remembering the storm in which he fought the Behemoths in.  It was the snow that saved him.  Without it, he would have never been able to summon his golem.  He glanced over at the stone golem that had replaced the red snow one.  This golem was of a more suitable size for travel.  Though it walked unsteadily on the deck of the ship they stood on.

Eastward they sailed to Mynoa, to salvation.  High Queen Audriel would aid him in his quest to reclaim his throne, he knew.  The Behemoths were first priority, but once they were taken care of, then she would turn her attention to Didaan.

House Colgrave of Winterhold would come to the aid of the empire and to Arkayus.  Lord Colgrave had sworn an oath to the king and then one to Arkayus.  The people of Winterhold were loyal to the true king, not to the usurper pig.  The Thane was a brutal man.  He would inspire no loyalty, like Arkayus would.  He was the true king of Didaan and he meant to return with an imperial army at his back to reclaim his home.

“It stormed when the Behemoths came upon us outside of Hecuba,” Arkayus told him.  “Do you suppose they bring the cold, my lord?”

“It is possible, Your Grace.  Such creatures are not the thralls of man.  If the old tales are to be believed, they are the children of the gods.”

Arkayus paused for a moment.  “Like the dragons?”

Lord Colgrave nodded.  “Aye, Your Grace.  Like the dragons.  Only the dragons are their first-born children and creatures like the Behemoths are bastards.”

“Where there any dragons in Alterros, my lord?”

The lord paused, stroking at his beard.  “It is said that the first men who came to Alterros brought their dragons with them, to escape from the endless wars of Balverrdis.  But they all died thousands of years ago.  Even their bones were lost to the kings and queens of Hermuna.”

“Are there still dragons in Balverrdis?”  He had heard the tales of the first men coming from the continent across the Whispering Sea, but little was known to him about the homeland of man.

“Aye, there are, Your Grace.  Though they only number a few.  The Dragon Emperor has control over them.”

Arkayus stared off the bow into the water.  He pictured himself riding on the back of a dragon, feeling the wind beneath him.  Perhaps his people would not fear him if he were born with the power to control dragons.  Perhaps they would revere him as Dragon Emperor too.  But only the Sons of the Dragon had that ability.  He was a bear, not a dragon.

“Do you think that Queen Audriette could ride a dragon?” Arkayus mused.  “The sigil of House Haerich is a dragon, after all.  And all the histories say that their ancestors were the blood of the Dragon Emperors.”  If she were, he could wed her and have her dragons lay waste to all those who would dare oppose him.  He would watch as the dragon tore the usurper apart with its teeth.  He stifled a grin that rose to his lips.

“It is possible, I suppose,” said Lord Colgrave.  “Why do you ask?”

The crownless king shrugged.  “Just a passing thought, my lord.”  He gazed out into the plains and meadows that was western Rundil.  It felt like so long ago that he had made this same voyage to the capital, but for an entirely different reasoning.  He had hoped to be rid of the paranoia that overtook him in his homeland.

They had passed the Westwatch Tower over a week ago.  The high queen’s men were already there by the thousands, setting up a line of Iceglass and fire.  According to Lord Renard Cadmond, dozens of magic-born men and women have joined their ranks—many fleeing from the hunts in Didaan.  When Arkayus told his story, the lord’s first reaction was to beg that he stay with them to help defend the line.  “Everyone is terrified,” old Lord Cadmond had told him.  “We have not fought a war in nigh a hundred years and now we are fighting the monsters our wet nurses used to scare us with.  We need strong men, like Your Grace, to lead the lines.  My sons are strong men, but you are experienced and blessed by the gods.”  He had pointed to Arkayus’s stone golem.  “I need you, Your Grace.”