Through The Storm

Rowida rode her horse away from the ruins of the Green City, tailing her army as the magical defenses of the walls started to gain power again, possibly killing anyone within a five-mile radius who was not a green.

As she reached the very spot where the effect of the magic ended, she stopped, dismounted, and gazed forlornly at the destroyed city.

Her handmaid, friend, and emissary to the Order of purification, Gertrude, came towards her from the farthest lines of the army, now deep in the forest surrounding the city.

“My lady, you are too close to the reach of the magic.” Gertrude reached for the arm of Rowida. “Please, step some paces back.”

“They all died, Gertrude,” Rowida said wretchedly. “He followed on his promise, he didn’t even hesitate.”

“My lady, please come with me,” Gertrude insisted. “We can discuss how to follow through with the plan at the new campsite.”

“I told him I needed at least one of the greens.” Rowida turned viciously on her handmaid. “How could he have done that? How could he ignore my need so?”

“I beg you, my lady, please move back.” Gertrude reached to pull Rowida towards her. “We can plan payback for his careless behavior at the camp.”

Rowida pulled Gertrude’s arm, as Gertrude tried to pull back and said with ice tainting every word, “You are his emissary, you betrayed me as much as he did, you deserve worth fate even than his.”

“But I am your handmaid, even before I became his emissary to you, I have been by your side for thirteen years, you made me your liaison to the Order, my lady,” Gertrude said desperately as she squirmed in Rowida’s steel grip.

The air sizzled, and one strand of Rowida’s hair was pulled towards the ruined city. For a moment, it glowed bright, then it turned to dust, the magic of the walls was in full effect.

“You were his spy from the beginning.” Rowida pulled Gertrude’s arm towards the place where here hair was turned to dust as she said, “Who ever heard of a red handmaid? Liars, all of you are liars.”

Gertrude jerked backward as she pulled on her Vrill for strength, certain of her Vrill and its power, she pulled with her other arm on Rowida’s.

Terror covered Gertrude’s face with its green shade, she couldn’t move the other woman at all.

Don’t do it Rowida, you will regret it, the dragon’s thought pierced through Rowid’s mind.

Rowida didn’t even acknowledge the thought.

“I am the Dragon Lady, you fool.” Rowida threw her head back to give a long throaty laugh, then she said, “You think controlling all those dragons and magical creatures just happen? I am not fully human anymore; I am much more.” As she said the last words, she hurled Gertrude towards the magic barrier.

Gertrude didn’t even have the chance to scream, she glowed for a moment, and was instantly turned to dust.

Standing with her back to the city, Rowida looked at her feet and said, “He used me, and I believed him, he has a lot to answer for.”

She looked back at the dust pile, which was her handmaid that started to blow away with the night’s air, and said, “He will have to pay for your death Gertrude, I loved you so much, you were my best friend.”

Then she walked slowly towards her army, thinking that today was lost, but she would always have tomorrow.

“Why were you sending my messengers away, Rowida?” The Grand Wizard sat on a black stallion as he approached Rowida, rain made his armor shine ever so brightly. “And where is our liaison, we need her to finalize the plan to take on the purples?”

“Why do you care?” she shouted at him as her mare pranced around his. “You killed them all, your men didn’t spare a single one as I demanded from you.”

“You can have a purple, or an orange.” He spoke with a tone tinged with annoyance. “Why does it have to be a green?

“Because I used to be one, and I can’t take the aura of any different color,” she screamed. “Now, you understand, do you?”

“Never worry, we will give you a green, we have the yellows and blues on our side.”

He reached to touch her mare to calm the frightened animal. “We can ask them whatever we want and we will have a green baby if you wish, a whole lot of them.”

“It is not as easy as that.” She hesitated, but she pulled her mare away from his hand.

“It is, I rule supreme above them all, and they will do it, if not willingly, then by force they shall.” He laughed as he again urged his horse to go near hers.

“They are powerful.” She started to calm. “You might not be able to force them.”

“I am far more powerful than you think, and you will lend me some of your Arcanos to make this even more so.” He reached his hand to her and pulled her for a kiss.

She surrendered to the kiss, then pulled away. “Gertrude was lost to the magic barrier, she can no longer be our liaison.” Rowida felt the gnawing pains of regret, eating her from her core out.

“No problem, I am giving you a whole retinue, one hundred men and women directly reporting to you.” He smiled and pulled the stirrups of her mare to lead her with his stallion to the new camp.

“Taking that village was a masterstroke, my lady.” The young woman bowed at least four times as she addressed Rowida.

“Relax, Marion.” Rowida sighed. “It was just a strategic point in our way, nothing more.”

Rowida rubbed her eyes, then turned back to her new handmaid. “When the Grand Wizard asked you to treat me with deference, he didn’t mean to cower in front of me, I am just a woman, like you.” She really missed Gertrude; she felt her loss day after day.

I warned you not to do it. The dragon’s thought carried a heavy degree of blame.

I was blinded in my anger, and as you always have to point it out, I am heartless, you did that to me, Rowida countered thought for thought.

Yes, I did, and you will know why sometime in your future when it matters the most.’ The dragon’s thoughts went back to being dormant after he passed this line Rowida.

“What is next, my lady?” Marion tried not to bow and only did it twice.

“We have to secure Mountain’s Child before advancing anywhere.”

Sanderson, the ruler of the blues for the last four years, was worried.

Upon receiving his seal of office, the most powerful spirit of nature contacted him for bonding, the queen of the dragons, and he was obliged by his new duties to accept. But of late, she was acting strange, she woke him in the middle of the night to warn him against the Order’s leader, even though she approved the move to ally themselves to the Order. Or, she would suddenly send him thoughts of pain, as nature suffered the onslaught of war.

His race, the blue aura people, had the ability to communicate with the spirits of nature, and of the dead, and most of his kind bonded with one or the other to gain extra powers or abilities, but he never heard before in all their history of an anguished dragon, because this was what the queen of dragons was.

He couldn’t consult with any other spirit, as all were below her and would tremble in her presence, and he couldn’t possibly tell what was happening to his people, lest they depose of him in this critical moment of their existence.

Sanderson knew he was the only man capable of taking the blues through the war with the least amount of causalities, and if he was to lose his position of power, the blues would suffer a lot, even more than the greens.

He ordered chamomile tea, known to sedate dragons, and sipped through his sixth cup of the day.

The yellows never had a ruler as such, their council had to debate each and every matter at hand till they reached an agreement of the majority, so, naturally, they had to resort to calling on the council of the Others, when a decision concerning a law or issue debated was split equally between council members.

Yellows didn’t have to broker a deal to use the powers of the others, as it was a given ability of their aura to speak to the Others and even seek a portion of their powers. Only a few of the weaker yellows made a ‘Deal’ and only then for limited swathes of time.

Recently, the council was lingering a lot of issues, especially issues concerning the war and their dangerous allies, the order of purification. Every step since they signed with the Order of Purification, they had to call on the council of the Others.

Today, the issue at hand, which was discussed between the council of yellows and the Others, was sending more troops to the war front. Half the council thought they already sent more than enough of their men and women, the other half agreed but feared the anger of the enigmatic Grand Wizard, a man who all the Others said was very powerful and very dangerous, and according to the head of the council of the Others, defied the weaved patterns of fate.

The debate among both councils took all the hours of the day and then crawled into the night.

Then the decision was taken in five minutes, as the messenger of the Order arrived at their door, they agreed to send another two thousand of their finest to the war front.