Ruler of the Skies

Gymbala

Pryborg was surveying a section of the wall damaged during the attack. The repair work was now complete. He turned and looked out over the city. His eyes were immediately drawn to the net slings and archery platforms. They had also been rebuilt successfully. He was finally comfortable with Gymbala’s defences and now turned his thoughts to that of his departure.

He walked along the wall to the nearest stairs and descended in to the city streets. Things were returning to normal; however, the city was still overcrowded. Food supplies would be under pressure until the end of winter. Pryborg made his way through the busy streets heading for the Mayor’s offices. He would give the Mayor one last update on the restored defences and prepare to leave early the next morning.

The Animoid Army Camp

The Head Master and the vulture Elbert had arrived at the Animoid camp deep in the mountains unannounced. Tahmore’s two generals and the leader of the Lizard soldiers had joined him in the main tent for a meeting. They were surprised to see him.

Tahmore looked at General Loktah and snarled. “You are meant to be in the East, leading your men.”

Loktah looked scared and licked his lips several times before answering. “I returned bringing much needed supplies taken during our raids. I came to get an update on conditions here and I am taking another squad of 30 men with me when I return. Supplies have been slow coming from the west and there is discontent in the ranks of my men.”

“You could have sent one of your lieutenants, but I will accept your excuse this time. Don’t leave your post in future.”

Uparta, the Lizard leader, spoke next. “Supplies are short. Heavy snows in the valleys to the west have delayed the supply wagons. You will have a revolt on your hands if supplies don’t come soon. General Loktah’s arrival with supplies was a welcome relief.”

“How odd. Are you standing up for one of your fellow generals?” There was a silent pause.

No one answered. Tahmore continued. “I will send two of my Elementals down to clear the valleys of snow and then you will have your supplies.”

Tahmore signalled to Elbert. The vulture shifted his head to one side and then an Elemental entered the tent from outside.

“Your Eminence.” He bowed to the Head Master.

“Take a Fire Elemental with you and clear the valleys to the west of snow. Apparently the troops are getting hungry.”

The Elemental bowed again and then left.

“Now to the reason why I came. I have decided on a change in strategy and I am issuing you new orders. Prince Tolgarn doesn’t like the attention his towns and villages had been receiving from General Loktah. So, I have suggested an alliance.” The Generals and Uparta looked puzzled.

“Uparta, you will take about half your soldiers and sweep across the East. Starting from Pinemarsh head east skirting around Kaemoora and up to Trameal, then swing down to Aerie and lay siege to the city. Move quickly burning as you go. Prince Tolgarn will use this as an excuse to form an alliance with General Loktah and his men. They will pursue Uparta across the land, reassuring the locals that they are their saviours ridding the land of the evil Lizards. Uparta once Prince Tolgarn catches up with you outside Aerie, lift your siege and return here via the mountains. Prince Tolgarn will then claim victory against the invaders, but remain with his forces and occupy the entire east of Mikaia. More and more of the soldiers from my army here in the mountains will join them and strengthen our hold on the East. To reinforce the need for more troops I will send the Dark Terror in occasionally to carry out mock raids.”

Uparta was the only one bold enough to query the Head Master.

“What is the ultimate aim of this new strategy?”

Tahmore bared his teeth under his mask. “What Uparta, can’t you see my brilliance? Ultimately, I will have the about half of my army occupying the East, ready to move when I decide, against Prince Anastas sitting in Conaldra.”

General Loktah spoke up. “Lord, should we not move to occupy the Gap between Bundamook and the sea?”

“In time. Two platoons of Conaldra Royals are stationed there at the moment after the last attack on Bundamook. I don’t want to spur them into action just yet. Now, are you all clear on your orders?” Uparta and General Loktah nodded in acknowledgement.

General Galdarn asked. “You have given me no orders, Lord.”

“You General, will stay here with the reserves. I will call on you soon enough. Uparta, I will send one of my Elementals with orders when to start your sweep. Make sure your soldiers are prepared.”

“We are ready, my Lord.” Uparta snarled.

“Good. I will leave you then.” Tahmore walked out of the tent. Elbert hopped off his perch and followed him.

An Elemental was waiting outside and he now walked with the Head Master.

Tahmore issued him with his orders. “Go and tell Centurion Santina that she can proceed with the plan. Return here when Santina is ready to start and inform Uparta.”

The Elemental just bowed and left the Head Master to carry out the orders. Elbert took off into the grey skies.

The Head Master walked out of the camp heading in a slightly different direction. He crossed over a ridge and came across a couple of lonely tents. There was a tunnel entrance not far from the tents. Tahmore entered the tunnel. He raised his hand and created a fireball to light his way.

Elemental Olander hird some footsteps and then saw the glow coming towards him down the tunnel.

“Your Excellency, I wasn’t expecting you.” He stood up and stretched his back.

Tahmore came to a halt and looked around. He noticed four medium-sized bags against the wall.

“Slow progress. I will need a lot more than that.” He gestured towards the bags.

“As I have mentioned before, Head Master, I have still not found the main vein.”

“Are you sure there is one?” Asked Tahmore.

“Yes, Your Excellency, I can feel it, but I fear that it is connected to the Well of Darkness.” Olander expressed concern.

“Why should that worry you?”

“There are dark forces involved with the Well.”

“That is not your concern. Just get me as much black powder as you can. When you have ten bags notify me and I will collect them.” Tahmore took one more look around the tunnel and was about to leave.

Olander stopped him. “Your Excellency, there is something else I must tell you. A very large bear has been wandering close to my camp. We seem to be in its territory. It may become a problem when we start to shift large quantities of powder.”

“Don’t worry. One bear is of no concern. I will send some troops to protect any transportation of bags once you have enough. Continue your work.” Tahmore strode out of the tunnel with little concern. Once he was out of the tunnel he turned for the Well of Darkness. He would call on Calzar, the leader of the Dark Terror, before returning to Daarook.

Pukavan

All was in readiness for Prince Aravin’s birthday celebration. He was turning 11 and he had grown up over the last year, attending meetings by his mother’s side. Actively engaging with the Elemental advisors. Princess Sienna, his mother, had organised a gala dinner for his birthday and the guest list was extensive.

However, because of Pukavan’s remoteness, no royals from other cities had accepted her invitation. Plus, the fact that the Dark Winter had not quite finished, meant that the guests would mostly be locals. One special invitation had gone out this time and that was to the ruler of the Lizard people in Lockmort. Until recently the peoples of Pukavan and Lockmort had been sworn enemies. However, a change in leadership in Lockmort and the return of Ambrose had meant that the two enemies were now in frustratingly slow negotiations to establish a peace treaty between them. Prince Sienna had not had a reply as yet and was worried that someone from Lockmort may arrive at the last moment.

Ambrose and all his friends had received their invitations. Tallulah was the only one that had decided not to attend. She had decided that her appearance, she was a dolphin headed Animoid, would draw too much staring and unwanted attention, plus she needed to keep her skin moist. So a long night at a dinner party was not the best option. She didn’t mind not going and had sent her congratulations to the young Prince.

The afternoon before the dinner, everyone spent the time getting ready. Getting themselves clean and putting on their best attire. Grimhilda had handmade new clothes for herself, her husband Raum and her son Jaymar. They were all very happy with the finished outfits.

Ambrose had bought a new robe and trousers from a local tailor. All of his friends had also bought something new to wear to the dinner. Rafeeq had decided to go green instead of his normal brown. Fineen had bought a beautiful bodice and knee length pants set and new long boots. Udolf, at first had decided not to attend, but had been convinced by the others to change his mind. They also found him a new vest with a fur collar the looked amazing with his wolf head. Finally, Jalen was in so much doubt as to what he should wear. Being a birdman, his body was mostly covered with feathers. Fineen had dragged him along to the markets and she eventual found him a nice vest and knee length pants combination.

They had all gathered at the Inn, Ambrose, his friends, Jaymar and his parents. Collectively, they would all go together. They were all admiring each other’s outfits when Ambrose spoke. “Tonight will be a grand event. Let’s all enjoy the occasion, but please behave yourselves.” He glared at Rafeeq in particular. Most in the group had little laugh at Rafeeq’s expense. ”Princess Sienna and her people have been very gracious towards us. So, shall we go?”

“Yes.” Was the loud reply from the group.

It wasn’t long before they were assembled at the entrance to the main hall of the palace. A small group of Pukavan Lancers stood guarding the entrance. They were checking people’s invitations. Once passed the guards they were ready to be introduced by the Master of Ceremonies.

Daarook

Students had started to return to the High School for Elementals for the beginning of the next school term. These were mostly students in years two and above, returning for their next year. One of the Elemental Teachers had told Ava, when she had asked, that first year students didn’t usually arrive until a couple of days before the term began. Many delaying their arrival to the last possible moment because of the Dark winter.

The first floor of building A was still a lonely place. Ava was returning to her room, after another day sitting in front of the fire, in the library. As she approached her room, she heard female voices.

“I’m so excited to be rooming with a Princess.”

This was followed by giggles and laughter. Ava stopped just outside the door and decided to listen a bit longer before entering.

“She apparently saved Prince Anastas from an assassin at the last Festival of Light.”

“I think that is just a rumour.” Doubted one of the girls.

“No, it’s true. My parents were at the masked ball and saw it all.” Confirmed the other.

“Wow. I wonder how she did it.”

“We can ask her when we meet her. Now which bunk do you want?” Asked the first girl.

“Let’s take this set. You can have the top and I’ll have the bottom.”

“Ok.”

Ava listened as they started unpacking and sorting out their things. She decided that she had better not linger too long outside the room as someone might come along and find her. So she gathered herself and walked into the room.

One of the girls was bending over adjusting things on the lower bunk, her backside to the door. The other girl was standing at the end of the bunks and said in surprise, “Oh, Your Highness. Macee she’s here.”

The other girl quickly stood up and swung around obviously embarrassed. “Your Highness. Please accept my apology. I was ...”

Ava interrupted her. “No need to apologise. You didn’t know I was coming.”

The girl standing at the end of the bunks introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Lorilee from Middleton, Your Highness.”

Macee did the same. “My name is Macee and I’m from Conaldra.” She paused and then added. “Your Highness.” They both then bowed their heads awkwardly.

Ava walked over to the other bunks and sat on the lower bed. “You don’t have to call me Your Highness here. The Head Matron has made it very clear that I am just another student. So, Ava will do just fine.”

The other two girls looked nervously at each other, not knowing what to do next.

Ava broke the silence. “Do know each other?”

Macee continued with sorting her things on her bed and Lorilee answered. “Yes, our parents are friends and we meet up every year at the Festival of Light in Conaldra.” She paused for a moment then added. “You were at the Festival last year?”

“Yes. My brother Theodor and I represented our parents last year.”

Macee now sat on her bed and asked excitedly. “Did you go to any of the events? Our parents didn’t let us go to any of the evenings as they said we were too young.”

Lorilee added. “My parents decided not to go to the masked ball as they wanted to leave early the next day for Middleton. We just went to the river to watch the lanterns.”

“Well, I did manage to go to the masked ball on the final night.” Ava had a sneaky smile on her face. “I got in pretending to be the sister of one of my friends.”

Lorilee now joined Macee on the bed and asked. “What was it like?”

“You probably both heard that the evening ended early because of an assassination attempt on Prince Anastas.” She held them in suspense for a moment enjoying the attention. “My brother and I help stop the assassin.”

“That sounds amazing. Were you scared?”

“How did you know about the assassin?”

“Did anyone get injured?”

The two girls were firing off one question after another. Ava just waited until they finally stopped. They all giggled and then Ava answered their questions.

After about an hour of constant questions, the girls fell silent.

Then Macee asked one last question. “What Element do you control?”

“At the test it was Fire and Air.”

The other girls both said. “Wow.”

Ava continued. “But I’m not so sure about Fire. It was only a flicker. What about yourselves?”

Macee answered first. “We’re both Fire.”

Lorilee added. “Macee has known for a while as she has an uncle who is a fire Elemental.”

“Yes, he tested me when I had only just turned twelve.” Macee said with an air of confidence. “I’ve been practising for many moons now.”

Ava said. “I really don’t know what I will be able to do with my elements. However, I am excited about the prospect of communicating with animals. I’ve been reading a bit about it.”

“Yeah, my uncle says it takes a bit of mental control, but once you get the hang of it. It’s easy.”

“Cool.” Added Lorilee.

“I’ve seen it done.” Ava started bragging.

“When?”

“I travelled here with a Centurion. He communicated with a couple of little birds. Asked them for information about next town on the road.”

“And?” Lorilee asked.

“They told him and they added that they were making a nest. They asked if we could give them some thread. So I took some from the hem of my travelling coat and they took it. From my hand.”

“That’s amazing. Hope I can talk to birds. Imagine getting them to fly around for you and carry messages.”

The conversation between the girls continued for the rest of the afternoon and well into the night. They all went together to the main hall for dinner. Ava was starting to feel she might have a couple of new friends. That would make living in Daarook a bit more acceptable.

Pukavan

Prince Aravin’s birthday dinner was nearing the end. The celebration had been grand with lots of entertainment. There were jugglers, acrobats, musicians, jokers and elegant dancers continually performing throughout the night. Jaymar, his parents, Ambrose and his friends all had a wonderful time. Udolf was the only one that seemed not to be revelling in the occasion, but that’s just Udolf, always so serious. Ambrose spent a lot of the event talking with Princess Sienna, even having the odd dance or two. At the end of the evening he told her that he was leaving on another trip, but it wouldn’t be long. On his return he hoped to have some good news. He left her uncertain as to what that news might be.

The evening finally came to an end when Aravin fell asleep in his mother’s chair. Many people had already left. Ambrose, Jaymar and all the rest said goodnight and headed home to their beds.

Ambrose was up early the next morning. He packed light and headed for Jaymar and his parents’ place. Raum and Grimhilda were already up and sitting at the table in the kitchen. Jaymar had not surfaced yet.

“Hi Ambrose.” Raum greeted him with a handshake.

Ambrose sat in a spare chair before speaking.

“I wanted to catch you before I left. I probably didn’t explain enough about where I was going.”

“That’s ok. We are used to that.” Quipped Raum.

Grimhilda glared at Raum and said. “Ignore him. Jaymar told us you were going on another trip.”

“I believe that the Head Master or someone very senior in Daarook is behind both the Animoid army and the Dark Terror attacks. There seems to be a tunnel, part of the maze, that runs from behind the High School for Elementals and somewhere deep in the mountains.”

Jaymar came into the room looking rather tired and still very sleepy. He said hi and then slumped into one of the empty chairs.

Grimhilda asked. “Are you ready for some breakfast?”

“Yes, thanks mum.”

Ambrose said. “No thanks. I am not staying long.”

He then continued. “I am going to the cave dwellings and hope to contact the Ancient one. If he responds I want him to take me through the maze to Daarook and then I hope to block the tunnel. That may disrupt movement and communications between whoever it is in Daarook and the Animoid army.”

“You sure you don’t want some help?” Jaymar asked.

“You need to stay here and practice your elemental skills.” Ambrose replied. “Have you told your parents about your flying lessons?”

“Sort of.” Jaymar looked a bit coy.

“What’s this about flying?” Grimhilda was a bit alarmed.

“Sorry honey, Jaymar and I were going to tell you, but we forgot.” Raum apologised.

Jaymar sat up and started to be more animated as he told his mother about his lessons with Rosalina.

“It sounds dangerous to me.” Grimhilda commented.

“Rosalina is a very capable Air Elemental and would not let anything happen to Jaymar.” Ambrose was trying to reassure Grimhilda.

Jaymar was busting to say something, but decided not to. He was going to fly solo today, if the weather was right. Ambrose looked knowingly at Jaymar and then added. “One day Jaymar will be a master flyer and fly all over Mikaia.” Ambrose paused. “I have other news. Gymbala was attacked again, but they repelled the Dark Ones. Raum, there is talk of sending Pukavan Archers to replace the ones left behind. Prince Sienna may call on you again to carry them over in the Golden Swan.”

“I had heard rumours. The Golden Swan is ready if required.” Raum commented.

“Good.” Ambrose stood and said his goodbye, leaving the family to talk more about Jaymar’s flying prospects.

Kaemoora

Centurion Santina had arrived late last night and she had been shown straight to the Centurion quarters. She would assemble the Elementals in the morning. Messages were sent for all Centurions and Elementals to be there early.

Centurion Fenzio had made sure everyone was there on time. When Santina arrived, all was ready.

“Centurions and Elementals.” She was straight in to it. “I have orders from the High Centurion. We are going to assist the Animoid army to take over the East. First the Lizard soldiers will sweep across the countryside creating panic. Then Prince Tolgarn and his troops will join forces with General Loktah’s Animoids. The Animoids will be wearing uniforms similar to Prince Tolgarn’s men and mix amongst them. The joint forces will then move in behind the Lizards securing the towns and making the people think they are their rescuers. The Lizard soldiers will travel all the way across to Aerie and lay siege to the city. Prince Tolgarn and General Loktah will then bring their forces in to break the siege with the Lizards escaping into the mountains.”

“What happens then?” Asked Fenzio.

“Prince Levan and Princess Pipa will be held captive in their own city. Most of Prince Tolgarn’s men will be replaced with more Animoid reinforcements until all of the East from the Gap to Aerie will be occupied by the Animoid army. That is all you need to know for now.”

One of the Elementals asked. “Does Centurion Oban agree with is course of action?”

“You will do as you are told. These orders are from both the High Centurion and the Head Master.” Santina glared at the Elemental. “You will be given you specific assignments by Centurion Fenzio. You can go now and await further orders.”

The assembled group started to disband; only Fenzio and another Elemental remained to talk with Santina.

“When do you expect the Lizards to commence their attacks?” Asked Fenzio.

“Any day now.” Santina was not giving too much away.

The Well of Darkness

Tahmore was standing at the lip of the Well. He had dropped a ball of fire into the Well and was waiting for Calzar to appear. It was still winter and the sky was dark, even though it was mid-afternoon. A large dark shape flashed past coming out of the Well, it circles once and then Calzar landed a metre from Tahmore.

“What is it this time?” Snarled Calzar.

“Such a warm welcome. I have more orders for you Calzar.”

“We attacked Gymbala and they were ready for us. We suffered many losses.”

“Why didn’t you attack with your full force?”

Calzar just snarled and spat at Tahmore’s feet.

“You really need to control your temper or I may have to do it for you.” Threatened Tahmore.

He continued. “I am mounting a major offensive in the East and I want you to follow the Lizard soldiers and stage mock raids against farms and small villages. Try not to get too many of you warriors killed. As winter comes to an end I will send my Elementals to darken the skies for your attacks. Meet up with General Uparta in 2 days near Pinemarsh. You will receive more orders then.”

Tahmore descended the steps down to the tunnel that lead to Daarook. Elbert flew down into the Well and glided into the tunnel entrance, landed and waited for Tahmore. Calzar stretched his large wings before springing into the air. He did one full circle above the Well before diving down into the darkness.