The LEVELER King ✔

CHAPTER 12

"And the warmachine goes boom, boom, boom!" the Earther fool exclaimed.

Idrus rested his chin on the palm of his hand. Though it was better to allow his scales to cover most of his face as well, he forfeited that protection from the suns so that he might get a better view of the performance.

The open craft hummed along. Three bodyguards walked on the right of him, three more to the left, but Idrus, riding in the hover carriage, kept his eyes on this frail Earther who was nearly baking in the heat.

This fool was one of the few Earthers left over from the wars.

It seemed hard to believe that only four cycles had passed since Idrus awoke alone in the wild. Abandoned and forgotten. Four cycles had come and gone since he'd walked into those caves as Indel and feasted upon his every desire and whim until he was physically sated.

He glanced behind him at the army of Levelers, still too young to leave the first stage, but fit to fight. More than half were his breed. He'd come out of those caves forever changed. No craving for nectar, but hungry for a fight.

As king he was known by a new name in each of his three forms. Stage one: Idrus, Stage two: Idsel, and Stage three: Indel. Before the battles, before the fights, before that Summoner, Idrus took on the second stage as Idsel. As that stage was less intimidating and more favorable to Earther eyes, it was the preferred stage with which to conduct talks.

The time of talks had come and gone. Now he couldn't stand the thought of remaining in that stage for long. Other than potentially dealing with Summoners, he saw no reason why he'd need it anymore.

Summoners had vanished.

Dilen's clan was the first to fall. It was then that Levelers had discovered the terpins. Small animals, unstable in their third stage and highly combustible, but easily harvested. They'd lined the nectar in small doses for years because although they could be deadly, they were incredibly sweet.

Most Levelers from that time had perished in the first fight. Idrus found that fortunate, as most could barely stand an existence without that gentle humming in the back of their throats from the sweet drink.

The fool perspired. Idrus reminded himself that it was brought on by the heat or perhaps fear, and not a show of disrespect.

In the distance, he spied a hillside and as always, he watched it till it was nearly out of sight. This slow route was one he'd traveled each and every cycle. It was laborious, long, unmanageable, and out of the way. It was also the only place he remembered of the Summoner who had thrown him away.

Days came and went when he remembered it differently. After the first cycle passed, he convinced himself that the Summoner had risked much by taking him so close to the caves so that he'd be seen. A Summoner without a tail venturing near unruly Levelers with no king seemed impossible.

Sometimes he imagined that Summoner looming over him, touching their foreheads, whispering sweet assurances and maybe an apology for having to part ways.

Whenever this season arrived, he built on that memory, making it into something far more than it ever was. Now when he'd thought of it, they shared an embrace and maybe a promise to keep safe. He'd lost his head by asking Nala to remain and that Summoner had lied and said she'd wished to do the same. They'd tumbled together in the dirt, Nala taking him into her mouth for a final time before someone's approach forced her to stop. In the latest daydream, memories of that severed tail and a fear for what danger it might bring forced them to part.

Idrus scoffed at the foolishness.

Still, he'd instructed the new Viceroy to leave this land undisturbed, for all the good it did.