Dragon (A Histories of Purga Novel)

Wilhelm stood in front of King Rowan, blocking his view of the video that played on an endless loop. The King looked broken. His head hung down with his chin resting on his chest. His wrists were bleeding from the many times he spent trying to yank his arms out of the restraints that held them.

Wilhelm moved toward him and grabbed his chin, lifting his face up so that they could look at each other, eye to eye. He smiled coldly and let go of the King’s chin. He stepped away, grasping his arms behind his back at the same time. He stood there in silence for a minute, taking in his masterpiece.

“You have no idea how good I feel watching you like this,” he commented. “Years and years I’ve spent planning this. Planning your fall. It has come together beautifully.”

“No matter how long it takes, or how hard it will be, you will lose,” King Rowan said. He coughed harshly as the words left his aching throat. “I promise that. You…will…lose.”

“I think not.”

The ground shook slightly, causing a knot a fear to rise within the King. He wasn’t sure what the lunatic had in store for him this time.

Just then, something massive came into view. It was a person mutated almost beyond recognition. The thing was so grotesque that Rowan let out a muffled gasp. Then he just stared in shock.

“What have you done?” he asked. The thing in front of him was barely human, but it had been human at one point, and Rowan recognized him. “What have you done to him?”

“I had Dr. Taren make a few modifications,” Wilhelm replied. “I don’t know if you remember or if you chose to forget, but this fool was the one that abandoned me in the trees of Ledun. He left me vulnerable and for what? Morality?” A dark, warped look came over his face. It was savage and twisted it into something that didn’t look remotely human. “He backed out from the fight on the grounds that we were slaughtering people. As if the Terraquois didn’t deserve it. And when I finally recover and make my way back to my homeland, what do I find out? That you rewarded him! You made him a Lord. A traitor and a coward!”

Wilhelm stood next to the giant creature, looking up at him. It, however, stared straight ahead. It didn’t even move an inch.

“So I had Dr. Taren turn him into a monster. Sort of fitting, don’t you think? Being forced to become something that he despised?” Wilhelm said. “I loved the irony. Now he’s mine to command. He’s already wiped out the force that was hiding in the Duanti Forest. A lot of Imperial Guards, Royal Infantry, and civilians died there.”

“What is the purpose of trying to rule Roanoke and her citizens if you just kill them all, you bloody fool?” Rowan spat.

Wilhelm smacked him across the face. The blow stung, but Rowan didn’t react.

“You’re the fool!” Wilhelm shouted. “How many men did you send out to die just so you come back the conquering King and hero? How many deaths are on your head?”

Rowan didn’t answer.

“You sit there and call me a fool, but you know the truth. Don’t you? You are no better than me.” Wilhelm continued, his voice raw with hate.

“I was trying to protect my people from a threat,” Rowan answered, his eye simmering with his own rage. He focused on that anger instead of letting the truth of Wilhelm’s words hit him. And there was truth to them.

“Yes. I suppose you thought you were,” Wilhelm responded. “But don’t worry. After I have gained complete control over Roanoke, the Terraquois will be next. I will finally finish what you tried to start. I will exterminate the lot of them. Every man, woman, and child. I will destroy them so completely that their bones won’t be found thousands of years later. It will be like they never existed.”

Wilhelm left Rowan then, walking out with the Behemoth in tow. The video showing Rone’s death restarted. Rowan watched in agony as his son fell from the sky. He watched as Rone slammed into the sand dune.

****

Wilhelm walked down a small hallway that led away from the cell where he had King Rowan stowed. It was another prison. A much smaller one, however, as it was meant to hold only one person. It was also buried another two hundred feet below Detention Sector 1 and was one of the most secure cells in Roanoke. He should know. He’d helped Rowan construct it. Its original intent was to lock up the Terra Chieftain, Tarvo, but it served his purposes quite nicely now.

They came to a door and Wilhelm quickly opened it. Outside was a plain chamber with a dozen guards posted to ensure that the King did not escape. They were the best of the soldiers he’d subverted to his cause. All of them were trained and deadly killers. He felt confident that no one would be able to get into the cell.

He went across the small chamber to a lift and then bent forward so a retinal scanner could scan his left eye. The doors slid open when the scan was complete and he and the monster boarded it. As soon as the Behemoth stepped inside, there was a slight lurch from the lift car as the huge creature’s massive weight settled on its cables, but they held and it rose rapidly. Several minutes later, it stopped and the doors opened onto a holding room of sorts. He left that room and headed out another door. He eventually wound up in the lavish lobby of the Citadel. Wilhelm and the monster headed to a different bank of lifts and opened the middle one with a special card he’d stolen from Rowan. Its doors opened and they both got on. There was another lurch because of the Behemoth, but again, the lift’s cables bore the monster’s weight. In moments, they were ascending and then the doors opened onto an incredibly luxurious apartment with several thousand square feet of living space, six rooms and a huge terrace overlooking Roanoke. It had been King Rowan’s home but now it was his.

He walked into the center of the living room.

Lord Guilder stood in front of him with Lehan Javoy beside him. Lehan was ex-Royal Infantry. He’d been discharged on the grounds of excessive abuse of power toward recruits and then imprisoned for several years after one of his training exercises resulted in the death of an Earl’s son. He’d been one of the first soldiers willing to join Wilhelm’s cause. In fact, he’d jumped at the chance to get vengeance for being, as he stated, wrongfully imprisoned.

“How are things in the field?” Wilhelm asked.

“Going as planned, General,” Lehan returned. He had a bald head and dark brown eyes. A moustache sprouted over his upper lip, the ends (near the corners of his mouth) extended across his cheeks and blended into the squares of his sideburns. The rest of his jaw and chin were as bald as his head. Although his body was thin, it was full of lean muscle and tightly compacted strength. It afforded him outstanding agility and fighting ability. That, combined with his proven ruthlessness, had quickly shot him up to the rank of Captain in the Blak Army. “Civilians have all been rounded up and put to work rebuilding the city. The Upper Tier have been imprisoned or killed. Our forces are awaiting orders to capture the Outpost cities.”

“Good.” Wilhelm turned to Lord Guilder. “And what about you?”

“We’ve sent a team of four to retrieve the Prince’s body,” Lord Guilder stated. “They have not been able to locate it as yet.”

Wilhelm stood with his back to them. He turned around, quite calmly, and glanced at the Lord.

“What do you mean they have not been able to locate it?” he asked.

Lord Guilder gulped, his jowls shaking noticeably.

“They found the area where the Prince landed but his body was not there.”

“I want it!” Wilhelm yelled. He’d already broken the King. Now he wanted to crush him. He had planned to desecrate the Prince’s body and force him to watch. “My plan is not going to be very successful if I do not have the boy’s body. Now is it?”

“N-no,” Lord Guilder stammered.

Lehan dropped into a more relaxed posture and watched the proceedings with evident boredom.

“Here is what you are going to do,” Wilhelm instructed. “I want you to fly out there, personally, and find the body. If you cannot, then I suggest you not come back. Am I understood?”

“Yes,” The fat Lord nodded his head vigorously. “When do you wish me to leave?”

“Now,” Wilhelm responded. He looked toward the terrace. “And don’t bother stopping for supplies. The threat of starvation and dehydration may spur your enormous ass to get the job done quickly.”

Lord Guilder looked as if he were going to protest, but thought better of it. He walked to the terrace with slumped shoulders. He created a flightpack, a bigger one than normal to carry his sizable weight, and lift into the sky. Then he was gone.

Wilhelm turned to Lehan.

“Ready the men. In three days’ time, they head to Raleigh. That will be the first city we will attack.”

The Behemoth started to shake with anger.

Neither of the men noticed.

****

Darvian’s mother and Aeri looked out the window to Gar’s hut. The man himself was slightly to the side and behind them, watching as well. There was an air of heavy tension and fear.

Off in the distance, barely visible, were four men digging in the desert. They were faint but unmistakably Blak Soldiers. Zoie had no trouble seeing that.

“What are they looking for?” Aeri asked, looking at her mother. She was scared, her little body trembling.

Zoie, however, had no idea either. She shrugged and continued her vigil, hoping beyond hope that they would stay in the desert and not venture into the forest. All of them were garbed in military gear.

“I can’t be sure, but I believe that’s the area where Rone was found,” Gar told them. “Could they be looking for him?”

“It’s possible. If they attacked him and thought he was dead, they might’ve come to retrieve the body. For what purpose, I cannot say,” Zoie answered, still watching the soldiers dig and dig.

One of them suddenly broke away from the rest and stood alone. Zoie watched him. He was obviously talking to someone (probably his superior back at Roanoke) via the comlink on his mechpak, reporting what they found. Or what they didn’t find. She was hoping that since they weren’t going to find Prince Rone’s body they would just leave, but she knew that wasn’t likely. They obviously wanted it and would probably stop at nothing to gain it.

Several more hours went by. The sun was slowly falling from the sky and it was nearing dusk. They watched another man fly in and land in a giant puff of sand. They couldn’t make out his features, but his garishly colored clothes (visible even from their vantage point) was enough for Zoie to identify him.

“That’s Lord Guilder,” she said.

“Who is that?” Gar asked.

“He’s an excommunicated Lord. It appears he’s allied himself with the rebels,” she answered.

Gar continued to watch them for a minute before he turned and headed to his brick lined oven. He stuck a wooden paddle inside and pulled out three round loaves of bread with seasoned vegetables packed inside. He brought them to the table.

“Here. You both must eat,” he said in a very fatherly voice.

The mother and her daughter stayed at the window, though, watching intently and with almost identical expressions of concern and fear.

“Don’t worry. I don’t think they’ll enter the forest. They’re too afraid. Especially with so few men,” Gar reassured them.

Zoie realized he was right. She also found herself ravenously hungry and the delicious smell of Gar’s cooking made her stomach rumble. She grabbed Aeri and they both took seats at the table.

Gar went to the cold box and grabbed a pitcher of iced lemonade. He poured them all drinks and brought those over as well. Zoie and Aeri were already eating. Zoie with dainty, womanly precision and Aeri with unrestrained enthusiasm.

“This is good,” Aeri said, bits of bread crumbs tumbling out of her mouth.

“Don’t talk with food in your mouth, honey,” her mother told her.

Both girls ate every last bite of their food, but Gar was less hungry. Half of his meal was still sitting on the table. He made chittering sounds and Fortun suddenly appeared at the window. He came inside and climbed up Gar until he rested on the man’s shoulder. The warrior took chunks of bread and vegetables and gave them to the little monkey.

“Where did you get your monkey?” Aeri asked, her eyes bright and fascinated as she watched Fortun.

“I found him in the forest. He said his family was gone and that he was all alone. I told him he could come with me and I would be his family, if he wanted. Apparently, he thought it was a good idea. He hasn’t left since he came here,” Gar told them.

“You can talk to animals?” Aeri asked, the bright fascination in her eyes growing. “That’s so cool.”

“All of the Terraquois share a special bond with nature. We can communicate with animals, plants, sometimes the very earth herself, when we wish to. Some of us, who are more skilled in the art, can command them as well. I am not gifted in that way. I cannot make Fortun do anything he doesn’t want to and he comes and goes as he pleases,” Gar explained. “I prefer it that way actually. I do not believe in bending others to my will, even if it’s only a plant or animal. It doesn’t seem right to me. There are many others that feel the same way, but we see the benefits to the Callers so we don’t make trouble for them.”

“Callers?” Zoie asked, showing her own fascination now. Learning, firsthand, about the Terraquois was more interesting than she would’ve thought. She couldn’t believe how badly misinformed her own people were.

“The Callers are the ones that are able to command the animals and the plants. They are uniquely useful to our people.”

Just then, the door to the hut opened and a beautiful Terra girl walked in. Zoie jumped slightly while Aeri just stared with unabashed curiosity. The Terra girl glanced around the cabin, saw them and her eyes widened. Eyes that looked weary, red and puffy. She looked as if she’d spent the last couple of hours crying.

Gar turned and looked at her.

“Keiara?” he asked. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” she responded. She looked to the Rook woman and girl. “Hello,” she said to them. “Who are you?”

“Zoie Tims.”

“And I’m Aeri Tims.” The little girl got up and walked to Keiara, extending a hand. Bemused, Keiara took it and the little girl shook her arm vigorously. “It’s nice to meet you. You’re pretty.”

She giggled a little. Then she let go of Keiara’s hand and sat by her mother again.

“You are the girl that saved Prince Rone’s life?” Zoie asked.

“Yes. I found him and took him to be treated. Where is he?” She looked around, confused. “I wanted to explain what happened and-”

Her voice trailed off as she looked out the window and into the desert. She squinted her eyes and then walked over to it for a better view. She saw the men out there, still hunting through the sand in the same spot where she had found Rone.

“Who are they?” she asked, turning to the Rook woman.

“They’re the ones that injured Rone,” Zoie answered, getting up and standing next to the girl at the window. “They’re the ones that tried to kill him.”

Keiara went completely stiff. It felt like all the muscles in her body tensed at exactly the same time. Her mind was filled with a complete blanket of anger. It was not a very familiar emotion to her and she didn’t know exactly how to process it. She wasn’t an angry person and she didn’t let it rule her actions.

Both things happened now.

She turned quickly and before anyone could stop her, she threw open the trap door in the floor, kicked the hidden release that unrolled the ladder, and started climbing down it.

Gar was the only that came close to stopping her. He managed to brush her shoulder but his grip failed and Keiara just gone as she practically flew down the ladder.

“Keiara!” he yelled. When she refused to answer he started down after her. The Rook woman started to get up. “No! Stay here. Keep your little one safe.”

“Keiara!” he exclaimed again as he went down the ladder. He kept his voice low in case the soldiers in the desert could hear them.

Keiara didn’t respond. She was thinking about the fact that those men were responsible for hurting Rone. Everything else didn’t matter.

She dropped to the ground when she was about ten feet up, landing painlessly. Then she broke into a sprint. She knew the forest well and hurdled the obstacles that threatened to trip or topple her.

In moments, she burst through the forest and into the desert.