Dragon Falls (Indigo Apocalypse Book III)

Chapter Four: I Get A Different Kind Of History Lesson

HUNTOR:
    As everyone rose to walk out, I turned to Brooklyn. She was still in her bar stool, face beyond pale, pale with shock and horror, and realization. Sarah stayed behind, Leia leaning over her to give her a kiss before murmuring something in her ear. Sarah, who'd normally say something right back and something even more perverted, stayed silent as Leia walked out. "I, well Jesus Christ." I said nothing as Brooklyn ran through several prayers at once, something she hadn't done in a very long time. As she prayed, I let my mind wander toward my mate. Sydney, under the warm smile, was boiling in a volcanic crater. Sydney wasn't just furious, wasn't just livid. She was in a torrid fury, a fury that didn't burn so much as molt like lava. It was no slow molt either, it was fast and hot, a torrid volcano that would erupt at any moment. And most of it was directed at Sarah. Looking at Sarah now, I knew she was not only aware, but keeping as much distance as she could. Her head was lowered, and she did everything she could to avoid Sydney's attention. Finally, Brooklyn faced me, and said, "I know of Dodona, and, of Dione."
    I waited as she took a deep breath, as she shuttered from whatever memory she was about to divulge. "My family as you know are born Christians, always were, love God and Jesus and all that. But my mother, my real mother, not the step you met, she always talked about how though we were a Christian family, that there were certain things one just couldn't discount or change simply because they wanted to. She said that we were an ancient people, one that was reputedly lost to time. Supposedly, we not only were these people, but held the strongest gift of prophecy of the age. Most of the Domingo women used it in witchery, of both good and ill, thinking it was the will of Satan, they believed it was his will that they had those curses. Especially since any kindd of witchery was seen as a curse from God." "Wow." Sarah murmured, shaking her head. "But there were those of us who believed that there was just more, that there had to be more. Mom use to tell me stories about ancient Domingos who traveled from distant lands. Who bore great prophetic gifts so powerful they could see decades or centuries into the future." Brooklyn breathed heavily, her voice beginning to crack as she spoke. "I, when she spoke of those Domingos, I always argued it was the will of God, that it was his saying that brought them here. She said that no, that women were of their own, make their own choices, their own purposes. She spoke of a tribe from long long long ago of people, the first people who had control of the oracle. They were called the Thesprotians, then it was in the hands of the Molossians. Then the Mycenaeans."
    "How the hell would you pronounce those?" Sarah asked. Brooklyn ignored her. "She said that we, the Domingos, date back to the Thesprotians, and were born into the Molossians, then the Mycenaeans. That with every passing of the great Dodonian Oracle, whether through blood or peace, the Domingo women were prized among others because of the prothetic blood that ran through our veins. Our power was blessed by, not only the god Apollo, but by Zeus, Rhea, and the titan of memory, Nmenosyne." "Ok, say what?" Sarah cut in. "With so many blessings, the blood of Dodona was never diluted, never ran dry. It instead supposedly grew overtime, creating not just powerful Oracles, but powerful beings who could tell the future, and manipulate it to some degree. Mom said that there were some who could actually control time, could slow it or speed it at their leisure. A curse from Kronos, she'd said." Brooklyn took another heavy breath. "When Audrey started talking, retelling basically everything, it brought it all back, all crashing down on me. My family is Greek, originated in Epirus, and was born through several different people. And, most imperative, is that Mom still believed they were out there. That this world was here, that Dodona, my birth place, the birth place of the Domingo women race, was here."
    "You wonder if you'll find them here. If your original mother is alive here, or if she was put to rest here. You wonder if you'll find solace and comfort in Dodona. If you'll find the peace you've been searching for." Brooklyn nodded weakly. I reached out and took her hand. "I can't honestly say. When I got here, found that Kneecora was my mother, though she didn't bare me but created me, it wasn't just a shock wasn't just something that threw my world into chaos, but it was a kind of release, a realization that I had no family, nothing to call my own through blood. It's why I think, at the beginning of all this, I called everyone my brothers and sisters, establishing that closeness, that bond between us, it helped keep me sane, keep my head on my shoulders, especially when blood was spilled and lives were lost. I never wanted to feel alone again, never wanted to feel like i was the only one fighting, the only one leading the Symbol. Audrey, Ramya Kitty, they all argued with me on it, told me I wasn't alone, and would neverr be alone. It took a lot to remember that. When I came here, I brought Sarah and Zavala, brought Wenzi, people I trusted, but people who were family, because in the event Kneecora betrayed me or disowned me, I had them to fall back on. In that end, I had them to lift me when I needed it." I squeezed her fingers. "I don't know what you'll see, what'll happen. But I want you to be prepared for the worst, be prepared for the chance whoever you meet may not like you or love you, or want you. Prepare for the worst." Tears flowed from Brooklyn's eyes, but she nodded. I squeezed her fingers and she rose from her chair. Wiping away tears, Brooklyn Domingo, left. I turned and found Sarah's gaze on my face. Sydney, who still sat beside me, was silent, but for the torrid roiling volcanic fury that raged through her head, so torrid, so deadly it blinded her, har-har, from anything else. I breathed through the bond, allowing my power to undulate through me, through her, washing away the molten core that was her power, her rage.
    "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip your intestines out from your belly the hardest way possible?" Sarah jerked in her seat, eyes widening. "I—I—I, Sydney—"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip that pretty head off your shoulders and shove it in the gaping hole that will be your belly." Sarah scooted away, her face, her scent filled with fear. "Sydney." I warned. But she was beyond coherency. That torrid volcanic power began to roil out of her. The ground heated and as she slowly got to her feet, lava bubbled under her booted feet. "Sydney." I called through the inferno. She spared me a single look, and that was all I needed. I crossed to her and took her mouth in a possessive kiss. As I did, I gave Sarah one order. "Run." She fled, flying out the tent and out of sight. Sydney stomped and the ground swallowed us both. We dropped out and onto soft dirt. She pressed me against the dirt in the cave she made. Her body moved over mine and she was snarling, snarling much like she had when we first made love. When she spoke in fluent Italian. She roared as she shoved me inside her, as she road me hard, her hips driving herself up and down over me, slicing me deep into her. When the climax hit, she roared so loudly that the entire ground trembled.
    Feeling somewhat refreshed the next day, I walked up the sweeping castle grounds with Kneecora, with Zavala flying overhead, and with Arachne at my side. With Sydney's reaction, and Sarah's, well, whatever, I figured it was better to leave her behind. And I wanted to get their reactions to Arachne. Walking along side her, Briella in her lioness form, sniffed the desolate air. On Briella's other side, Lorna walked, her presence a quiet reassurance. Arachne had a hand on Briella's neck, a comfort and sign of unity between friends. Zavala landed a few feet ahead, and shifted into her humanoid form, immediately letting her wings trail against the ground as we walked into the castle, as always, standing superjacent over the Capital. Then again, as we entered it this time, I couldn't help but think that the castle looked like a lone figure over a desolate plain. As if, like Kneecora, it was a fake, a mask, as if the great castle was nothing, nothing without it's people moving within and around it. We met within the same royal hall, although this time, every royal rose to their feet and drew weapons at once. Reequo said, "What in Dragon—"My dear brothers and sisters." I said ostentatiously. "Meet Arachne." Veevuqui hissed, much like a cornered animal. But it was Reequo who acted first. He threw a dagger and flew behind it, leaping over the table and toward Arachne. Arachne ducked the dagger and as Briella roared and rose to her back legs to strike, Arachne lashed out with a web and snatched Reequo's sword, dragging him off target. "REEQUO." Veevuqui shouted. Arachne retracted her web and stood as he got to his feet.
"Huntor." Said Veevuqui icily. "What is this?" "This, is one of my friends." All seriousness, I stepped to Arachne's side as Briella snarled viciously. "And as my friend, as a fellow indigo-god, you will not harm her." "She's the spawn of the Dark Queen." Someone snapped. "And you're point is?" I asked coolie. "I'm the creation of Kneecora, as Sarah is, yet you throw no tantrums over that." "That's—"No different than us." Zavala stepped forward as she said, "Arachne saved my life on the ocean. I trust her with my life, as Huntor does." "And Arachne," said Arachne. "Can speak for herself." Her dark eyes were hard as they met Reequo's and Veevuqui's. Arachne ran a finger down Briella's coat before saying, "I watched my brother die in the most cruelest way possible. As of now, the Dark Queen, the demon creature who shares my name, is in his body. Huntor saved me from myself then, and has been several times over. But I will save myself now, and will help him and the others in destroying the Dark Queen, in destroying Arachne, once and for all." "And how can we trust you?" "Because I was given a symbol, the purest of symbols that nullified, abated, that completely destroyed the piece of her she put in me, the piece she used to control me." "What symbol?" Veevuqui asked. "This." I said, raising a floating symbol over my palm. The symbol of the great sapphire dragon, the long lost dragon. "With my power and cleverness, I instructed Draco to collect water from the great dragon falls, the huge water that was and is the purest water of the entire continent. This was the water that Arachne has been drinking this entire time, that all of us have been drinking this entire time. This water, along with a few symbols added in, nullified the piece of the Dark, of Arachne, in my dear friend." "Impossible." Reequo snapped instantly. But Veevuqui said, "It makes perfect sense."
"If this is the case," said one of the others. "How did you know? Arachne wasn't even to anyone's knowledge until the Queen rose." "It's called contingencies." I said. "When my mate abrogated the Queen and separated herself from Arachne, I knew that the Queen had to have a contingency plan. She had to have back up plans in the works. When we got here and passed over the great falls, I knew that they would play a part in her fall should she truly rise." "You can't have had this in mind for months, for weeks or months, there's no way—"Reequo." Veevuqui said coolie. "Sydney described the Queen to me. Said how she saw a spider's outline, a great spider with open pincers, yet a strange humanoid head. Though at the time of her telling she was in destress and said she couldn't be sure because it was surrounded by lava. I began planning that either the purest of water, or the purest of lava could destroy the Queen once and for all." "There's no way." One of the others said. "Believe it or not it's true." I said. Then, there was a sound, the sound of shifting flesh, and a golden glow, and Briella appeared.
"Huntor is always the one who thinks and plans ahead. Months, or weeks ahead." She was bare, bare to the skin besides the golden-bronze crown atop her head. The crown with the image of a roaring lioness on it. She stepped to Arachne's side and said, "Huntor met me in battle, wherre I housed a rebel group of indigo foolishly called the Rogue Armada. When he escaped, he destroyed the bridge and made me fall into a flowign river fo sewage. But, due ot his power, he saved my life. I did not drown in that sewage, instead, there was an air bubble around me, and I made it to the surface. I owed him and he knew it. He planned to save me all along, never intended I die." She looked around, att the shocked faces. "Huntor has always been known among the indigo and gods as a planner, as someone who will think weeks, months in advance. During the ocean battle, Huntor, Sydney, Sarah and Leia devised a contingency plan, one where if things weren't looking the way that he hoped, then Audrey was to sail the Drakous as far away as possible, take the Queen with them, and run her down, then, create a portal through the churning waves and bring them here to face the Molten army he gathered with the help of Vello and Seeka." Briella's voice went to feral steel. "So believe me when I say I agree with Huntor, Arachne here is not only safe, but eager to destroy the demon who created her as a vessel." "This is a lot to take in." Said Veevuqui. "No one is saying it isn't sister." I said gently. "But if we are going to survive this war, we need allies, allies from across the continent. We need to work together. All of us."
All the siblings finally sat, and Veevuqui asked, "Alright, what do you need from the Snow Kingdom?" As negotiations went, the one between the Rogue Armada and Snow Kingdom wasn't as hard as I dreaded they'd be. Veevuqui lobbed out questions like she'd done it for centuries, which, in a sense, she had. Reequo threw out complaints and derogatory commentary. "What is the point of going into a great war where we'd all die anyway?" "Are we gonna let some defective Sun Dragon tell us what to do?" Briella snarled at that, along with Zavala and Lorna. "Why not just have us all die right here and now?" However, when I mentioned that I had the generals of their armies in my own fleet, currently back at the camp, Reequo went silent. "Qudorzo Quedesha and Pheequa not only agreed, but are willing to lead your armies into battle against the Queen, will, with, or, without your say."
"Then why would you even sit to these negotiations?" Veevuqui asked. "To get a rise, and to gage whether or not you'd truly send out your forces to join mine. As I've noticed, you would, so I decided to drop that little bit of information." "BETRAYAL." Reequo shouted. "DECEPTION, TREACHERY." Hee and a few others rose to their feet, drawing weapons. Kneecora rose like a snake and snarled, "FREEZE." All the siblings froze. "He has not deceived you. Has not betrayed you nor lied to you. Each of you are aware of the war coming, aware that the Snow Kingdom is one of the greatest kingdoms across the world. If we do not supply armies to fight, then look to the future, trade with the nearest countries and territories will go down. Dodona, the Molten Kingdom, even the alliances we have with warrior territories like Lykanthropos will shatter if we do not fight, they'll see us as weak and worth taking." "You're right." Reequo said coolie. "Huntor hasn't betrayed us, but you have."
The temperature in the room went down several degrees. "You've betrayed us from the start, Mother." Kneecora's back went straight. Waiting, waiting, she knew, just as well as I knew the ax would fall at some point. She knew, just like I knew the ax, the sword, the blame would fall on her. Reequo tore her to shreds. At first his voice was gentle, was soft and cool. Then it rose, growing with every story, every lie the once great Snow Queen told her children. Kneecora weathered the roiling torrid storm. Weathered the torrid heat of Reeequo's rage. If he'd been a Molten dracon rather than Snow, I was certain he'd be spitting fire. Moreover, he spewed everything he hated about Kneecora, yet she weathered it. Back straight, face cool and calm, eyes blank and lifeless. The only way she was able to keep calm, the only way she would be able to weather, to handle this. Because she knew, she knew as well as I did, that the blade would fall on her. All the blame, all the hatred, the rage, it would fall on her. And much like me, she would rather take all the blame, than try to save herself and put it upon someone else. "Penance." I realized. "This was her way of repenting for what she'd done. The rebuke she knew was coming. Perhaps in the exact way she'd expect it. Reequo tore the former Snow Queen to shreds like a wolf would tear a deer's carcass to bloodied ribbons. When he was done, silence roiled around the space like an oncoming storm, thick heavy clouds of tension, heavy haunting clouds just waiting to break. Briella was stiff, her face filled with primal rage. Her claws dug into the arms of her chair, and her mouth was open in a silent roar. Zavala was sheet white and looked as if she just watched Raveaque die all over again. Both Arachne and Lorna were blank, faces slightly agape. Kneecora was sheet white and her eyes, those turquoise eyes, were dark and haunted, unholy haunted.
    I slowly slid to the edge of my chair. I took in a breath, and let it out. As I exhaled, the temperature in the room grew, grew, grew, and grew, until it was a humming torrid thing. I slowly, slowly, rose to my feet, eying Reequo with nothing human, nothing dracon in my eye. The eye of a god, the ire of a god, face of a god. Reequo had the good sense to look down, as did the others. "How about, Reequo, we talk of your deeds, especially the bad ones. How about we spend the next week or so talking of all our misdeeds, since you seemed to have enjoyed, relished, in bringing up all of my mother's misdeeds." Reequo didn't speak. "We're here to talk about war, about the future, not the past, not what she did wrong. I understand you have grievances, but that doesn't give you the right nor ok to bring them out on this table, in this room. This is about war, not family finger pointing. Point your fingers at my mother on your own time, not ours." I looked toward Veevuqui, who still had her head lowered. "Now, to continue." I sat, letting the temperature in the room return to normal. "We already have the approval of Decre and Qudorzo and the rest. We already intended on leaving with your armies. This was nothing more or less than insurance." "Then why would you put yourself through this?" Asked Veevuqui, her head still lowered. "Because I wondered if you'd all band together and fight, or spend days debating and arguing like children. I now understand it's the ladder, not the former." "Why you arrogant, degrading little—" Reequo's words were cut short at the snarl Briella lashed out, and the golden lash through her eyes.
    "We do not have the time to argue, to debate, to negotiate. We stalled the Dark Queen for now. But she'll be back for vengeance. And now she'll be scrambling, not thinking straight, she'll be reacting, rather than planning. She spent centuries to think about every pitfall, and yet we still outsmarted her. She never counted that Dargonue would fail her as he has. She never considered that Sydney would find the strength to fight back at the last moment. She never saw that if she were to have us killed, she'd give birth to the very creatures that are capable of destroying her." "So, she won't be thinking straight, we got that. That just makes her more dangerous." Said one of the siblings. "Yeah sure, but if we front the attack, go on the offense, it puts her on defense, she's reacting, not thinking. We attack first, she has no choice but to fight back." Lorna's voice was filled with confidence, with knowledge and assured strength. Everyone glanced at her, and Lorna continued. "She has no army anymore, Amala, Daitengu, Amelia and the rest destroyed her fleet. She now has to return to wherever they were and rebuild what she lost. She must do this, otherwise she'll never truly have what she clearly wants. Power. Control. She wants the whole of this world at their knees in front of her. She wants an empire, not just a territory or two. She wants to rule an empire, and being the Dark Queen has given her a taste for power. She won't stop, she can't stop. Not until she rules an empire. Now that she has near to nothing, we must attack first."
    "Well well well." Was all I could think. "Look at Lorna. She'd never truly spoke, no, not Lorna, not just speaking but devising a fully soundproof plan. "Exactly." I said. "We intend to travel across this continent, to gather forces from every territory, from Dodona, to the mountains of the winged, to the depths of the great rivers. Numbers count in war, especially this kind, as much as indigoism counts." "And what of you?" Asked Veevuqui. "If you and your mate are Sun Dragons, why don't you both just fight her hmm? Why can't, or, more to the point, why don't, you both just go, fight her, and be done with it." "Because I have no intention of dying again." I said simply. "Because if we were to take the easy way out, we'd possibly, very possibly destroy the Dark Queen, but then what, she'd still have gathered forces, armies to destroy. If Sydney and I were to go through them, who's to say we have the power to bring the Queen down. Who's to say we just aren't strong enough to do it." Once again, Lorna spoke up. "Say they do, say they do face down Arachne, say they do face her, what if, as he said, they don't have enough power. What if they do destroy her, but because they don't have that power, can't bring back the sunlight. They created the Northern Lights here, and brought some light to the darkness. You can see them for miles all around. From here to the Molten Kingdom actually. Then what huh? What are they to do then? Then you all will be complaining and crying because there's no light." Lorna never raised her voice, never shouted, never screamed. Her voice was plain and easy, so cool and matter of fact that everyone kinda just stared.
    "As he said, this is war. We need to think of it as war. Huntor has contingencies, we all know that, he always has contingencies, back up plans, ways out. This would be one of them of course. Huntor wouldn't want hundreds or thousands of indigo to die. He would never suggest we all go to war unless it was one of the only ways." Said Lorna. "We all came here willingly, knowing that some of us may die, may not live through it. I, Camille, Jazlyn, Vera, Alexandra, Horace and Isis, Callie." Lorna ran through all of their names, every, last, one. When she was done, she said, "We put the war before us, will you?" Silence roiled through the room yet again, and as it did, I knew that, in the way of negotiations, Lorna was an ace in the hole. 'Yes." Said Veevuqui finally. "We will fight." "Veevuqui." Snapped Reequo. "Silence." She said smoothly. When we walked out of the castle, strolling through the courtyard, I found it as good a time as any.  Zavala was flying overhead, keeping an eagle eye on things, or, in her case, a dragon's eye. Lorna and Briella flanked Arachne, all three talking softly. "I did mean what I said." I said to Kneecora. She jerked as if Leia zapped her with a lightning bolt. "I—I—I—I—I was never was—"Going to presume I meant it?" I asked. "I know that. And I understand it." "When I created you." She whispered, as if she didn't want the Higher Beings to hear. "I never thought this would happen. I had everything I could've wanted. A huge sprawling kingdom. Nine children, everything at my fingertips. But somehow, Dargonue made me want more than that, he made me more power-hungry, crave power. Dark, dangerous power that she would bless us both with. He'd be the King of the Molten Kingdom, rather than the Earth dracons, and I'dd be Queen of the Snow Empire. I should've seen the lies in that. We were supposed to create two champions, two IndoDragons who'd have no rivals but each other. He was supposed to break her spirit, destroy her mind, make her nothing but a doll. That way, the Dark, Arachne, would be able to take over her body, and inhabit it for a long period of time."
As she spoke, I stayed quiet, listening to a story that she may have never told anyone. "Your mate, Sydney I mean. She was born with incredible powers, even more than Dargonue expected. As you were. You were born with true undiluted powers, power over water so strong all you needed to do as a babe was breathe a gust of cool breath and water would freeze. We both realized that both of you were too powerful as babies, and needed your powers locked away for a time. "So that's why I never truly found my power until a few years ago." She nodded. "The first time our kindd went to your world, they tried to find you—"Wait a moment, you mean in the seventies?" I cut in. "I don't know the time period, but, yes, they weren't especially strong indigo, but they were sent to find you, against my orders and Dargonue's." "Hence why they disappeared then." I murmured. "Yes. They wanted to find you because they dreaded a war coming, a war against the people Dargonue gathered as cover. Dargonue never had a problem with seeing humans die, enjoyed it actually. He reveled in it actually. Enjoyed watching those humans named the Keepers die trying to rid the world of us. Then when he realized you were the reason they came, he found a way to watch more humans die, and directed the weapon to you. Thereby forcing you in the open. The lock on your power was already weakening by that point, and all you needed was a little push for it to erupt." "Which it did." I murmured. "When Amanda and Veronica cornered me in the pool-house and I landed in the water, it all just sorta came spilling out, so to speak."
"Then, all he needed to do was force you to give yourself over to him willingly, then every chain on your power was broken, and unleashing your power, sent out the symbol to unleash every indigo's power." "I played right into his plans." I said. "I did exactly what he wanted, expected." "He was a madman, and you were untried and untested, you couldn't have foreseen it all." Said Kneecora gently. She stroked my arm. "Neither he nor I foresaw that you and Sydney would be mates. In truth, Dargoneu never learned from his mistakes. When he first imprisoned you, he wanted the wolf girl Amala to kill you, but she never saw you as pray, she saw you as another predator. Hence why he threw you in with Sydney. If she didn't kill you, then she'd shun you, and pull away because you were a male, the very thing he drilled into her to fear and hate." I shook my head, unable to follow the clear truths, to put the missing puzzle pieces into play. To understand the story that i never truly knew, the story that never was quite complete for me. "You were supposed to break out of prison yet again, were supposed to show Dargonue your strength, your courage, your power. Yet you never truly did." "No," I found myself murmuring, remembering that time. "It was the strength of my indigo that truly broke me out. Leia's storms, Kitana's fans, Diana's arrows, Camille's shifting, I never truly used my powers back then." "You angered Dargonue, he wanted to see just what threat you'd pose against the Dark Queen, and yet you even then had such a handle on your power that you used your strength, your wits, rather than true indigoism." "Where did Amanda fall into it all?"
    "Ah." Kneecora rubbed her chest, as if the idea of her made her cold. "She was a lucky pawn really, something Dargonue could use as a toy. A disposable one. She was a human succubus, yet one with strange powers. She lived for twelve lives before she was slain by Death. Her curse really, with every resurrection, she grew more and more insane. However, because she was young, she didn't realize that that insanity cost her her existence. She relished it, reveled in it, and it was, in the end, what got her destroyed for good. He enjoyed using her, on both you and his, on Sydney. He gave her a new hand, he was quite displeased when you cut off her first one." "Ah, I wondered how she had a new one, I just never thought to ask since every time we met it was with swords between us." She remained quiet as we walked for a while. "When I sent those liaisons to bring you here, I never expected the sheer derision, contempt, and complete disregard you brought with you. It was my turn to be surprised and outraged. From the start, you thwarted everything I demanded of you. Moreover, you became more of a prince, a king, than I ever was a queen." I reached in the space between us and took her hand. "And yet, through all that, here we stand, walking hand in hand, toward a camp where we have brought armies together, where, with the help of my gods and indigo, we'll have had brought all armies together." She smiled down at me, and I leaned up to kiss her cheek. "I love you Mom, and will remember you for years to come, you're story, your falls and rises will be documented and we won't ever forget you, long after you're dead and gone, your triumphs will be told." She wiped away tears, and said shakily, "Thank you, my son."