Chapter Seven

Three Brothers and Combined Strength

The army was parked outside Maduraa as planned, the weapons from phaser in both pistol and rifle form to kar'takin - and he himself brought the one thing he prized most that he considered a good luck token for their victory. They failed the first time around, but even death would not keep her from being here when he finished what they both started. Gelnon caressed his beloved's pale face and whispered once again tenderly to her as the winds.

"Soon, my love." And soon his brother would fall, his wife with him...and all of the Dominion would be his.

~o~

Tomorrow he would face his devil of a brother once and for all. Gelnon and Luaran thought they could overthrow him once before, and not this time. Right now, he and his dresser were working on the mesh armor he would wear for his own protection as he would face Gelnon man to man personally. Meanwhile, his spies were scouting the enemy camp and would return soon enough to report.

He was now alone in his tent with his wife, his beloved Kilana. How could he ever thank her for this? WHY had he wanted her dead? He was such a coward just because of Luaran - and she didn't cower from him. He wasn't a murderer; Gelnon was. On his wedding day, his brother had cause to slyly state that his new wife better live up to his own expectations. Kilana was fierce, beautiful and intelligent, loyal, and her stories were everything he never thought he would have. Those lessons on how power wasn't everything, that happiness was the one thing that mattered most even if it wasn't easy to obtain - but in the end, the wrongdoer had his comeuppance and the good one won. Just notably the one of the ambassador and the beggar...

That alone gave him a great reason to defeat Gelnon once and for all, and the moral of Bac-Bac to "take responsibility for your actions" was exactly what his brother needed to do. Accept the responsibility and let his blood stain Weyoun's blade, even wet the earth.

Weyoun now found himself looking at his wife sitting down on the magnificent cushions, wearing a garb completely different from the gowns he always saw. Her blouse was white, light and airy, gracing her form, and her trousers were dark and tight, her boots matching. Around her neck were the pearls he always carried each night she told him a story, the ones that belonged to his mother. He had tried to give them to Luaran on their wedding night, but she never savored pearls no matter the sentimental value. And Kilana never once asked for them. They shimmered lustrously against her skin.

"You don't look well," she told him as she looked up from a PADD. "Will a story help?"

He shook his head. "No, my love," he answered. To finally say the word without falsity - it felt more than wonderful, more real than a dream. She was his one and only, the one he should have been with all along before... "The only danger you face now is my brother, and even your stories won't protect you. He'll have cut your throat. It won't be the perfect time, Kilana."

He'd always known she would go on anyway. "It's the perfect time. This one regards a time of war, in a manner. About three brothers who fought like you and Gelnon. Happened long ago in far away Yeman, a century before our time." He turned back to face her after having some rippleberry wine, now deciding that she was right that he should listen to this. It might not work on Gelnon, but perhaps it could help him fight his brother.

"Yeman was ruled by Vorta Prime Minister Salzenon. He had three sons altogether by the names and gifts: Hasvan, who was the best swordsman; Ahdam, on the other hand, a master bowman; and finally, Elos who had extraordinary strength in his hands. As time went on from early young adult years into their middle manhood years - not middle-age, but halfway past second decades of life - their playful fighting amongst each other turned to vandalisms of construction of certain structures in the city, one in particular being a new shop in the making. Only this time was not regarding fun; it was over the love of the neighboring Princess Fayea, which pushed the father's buttons one last time. Adding in the fact that the three sons wrecked the lavish prized gardens of the estate one last time. The Prime Minister was not dying anytime soon, but once his time was up, he would have to choose an heir - and not one son was favored given they were all 'buffoons' and 'disgraces', tearing everything down for their own amusement and petty disputes. And one of them would end up with Princess Fayea. With all this fighting and talk of dying, the three sons would tear the planet and the Dominion apart - this government which endured for ten thousand years thus far and Salzenon would not let it all crumble under his unfavored sons.

"To prove their worth and to make damned sure they would work in harmony, he would send his sons on a quest across the island and perhaps the planet for a year, and they would each bring back a wonder that no one had ever seen before. 'You must leave together, and return together,' the Prime Minister ordered firmly, for upon their return with a great wonder, he would name his successor. And so the brothers left immediately on stallions, the old-fashioned manner to prove their combined strength. Together, they ventured out into the unknown, the greatest wonder in the universe."

She sat up straighter, crossing her legs beneath her, and he mimicked as he joined her. "They agreed that on the same day next year, they would meet up with their great discoveries. They had no maps to guide them, going to countries where travelers said there'd be dragons. So, beginning with Elos, who found himself in a fabled land: the bronze city of Zirroc, but it was all gone now, for the bronze rusted and the fountains dried up. Nevertheless, in life and decay, it was a wonder to behold. There, he found one sure wonder, despite having been seen before: an ancient scope unlike no other; all you had to do was ask, and it showed you what you wanted. In his case, he asked to see the Princess Fayea of Yeman. But it was already bought by another rival, and to obtain what he had come all this way for, Elos fought the fire men at the other's command before throwing a blade into his real opponent's heart, obtaining his prize and making way back to his location to wait for his two brothers.

"Meanwhile, Ahdam headed north for one sure object that was said to possess the secret to healing the sick and dying - the Q'lava of Life. He came across a monastery in which the sacred fruit was prayed upon. He could not get it without going past the holy worshippers and passing a test of character. Using his skill with the bow and arrows, he shot certain targets until he came to the greatest challenge ever: he was to shoot an apple atop the head of one of their youngest, but Ahdam feared it, and if he refused, then he would lose and walk away empty-handed. Having a conscience, he resigned and refused to shoot an innocent child either by accident or purpose...and by doing this, he won by losing, and walked away with his prize that was the Q'lava of Life. But not before he was given words of advice on how to use it."

Weyoun wanted to know what that advice was, but decided it could wait. "And Hasvan, the last?"

"Rode onwards towards the famous city of Preta. Today, she is known to be under the earth, maybe consumed by mountains and forestry - but then, she was the jewel of the eastern part of Kurill. It was in Preta that Hasvan discovered the most amazing thing about the city, for it was two and not one. The second city lay under the first, and this underground survived many years after the first, but that, too, is gone. Here in Preta, Hasvan came across a great selling of marvelous carpets, but it was one in particular that had caught his attention based on the seller's perspective - it was not an ordinary carpet. It was a flying carpet," Kilana told him with her famous broad smile that made him shrink back, both with excitement and intrigue. So far he'd heard of djinnis, wise camels, and now flying carpets. "At his command, the carpet raised itself alone and floated about the room. It could take you anywhere you wanted, and all you had to do was ask. Purchasing it was worth all the trouble, because once it was clear he was royalty based on the amount of latinum he was willing to pay, the shopkeeper called armed men to rob and kill him - but they were no match for his sword skills, and he escaped unharmed on the flying carpet to return to join his brothers, where they shared each of their findings.

"But the scope itself revealed their father ill and dying that they had to return fast on the carpet," Kilana finished, voice dripping with shock, her face matching before it changed entirely to soft content. "They gave the Prime Minister the Q'lava of Life, and as a result of this adventure of learning to coincide and work together, they all became one heir to their father and ruled in peace. They learned one important lesson entirely: men united were better than men divided."

Men united were better than men divided...he had seen it all happen, but such was not the case with him and his own brother. Because underneath their troublesome shells, the brothers all came close together to save each other and their father, but Gelnon did not have what they did - what Weyoun knew he had, and Kilana had seen it. "What advice was Ahdam given when he took the q'lava?"

"The universe is an inferno full of darkness and evil, and that there were only two ways of dealing with it: the first is easy and wrong, and it is to accept it and become part of it. The second way is harder and right - you fight it and recognize those who aren't evil, and help them endure."

And she took the second way: she helped him and SAVED him from the darkness. He knew the answer all along - because she loved him, and he knew he loved her from the start. It had always been, even when he didn't remember her at first, and he was blinded by death and madness that he almost destroyed this one precious creature in front of him. And the heavy weight on his soul lifted, replaced with something more fresh and renewing than any rain to cover Maduraa City, Delhati and the rest.

He leaned over and captured his wife's lips with a kiss.

He could not describe what had come over him. Tomorrow, he would go off to fight, but tonight, he wanted to spend it with Kilana before he had his strength saved to take Gelnon's life once and for all. He then broke it, looking down and seeing her breathless. "Are you sure you want to do this now, Weyoun?" she whispered.

He smiled, tracing her bottom lip with his thumb. "I'm sure. I want to make love to my wife tonight, all night maybe, before I go off to battle tomorrow."

"My love..."

Soon they were both naked, their clothes laid on the chair next to the makeshift bed, Kilana laying down first and a vision with just his mother's pearls around her neck and nothing else. Weyoun closed his eyes at the tight heat his body endured at the sight of her, reopening them again to take her in for the second time. Her curves were sumptuous, her breasts domed and firm, both of which he traced with his mouth and tongue, causing her to writhe and gasp. The taste and feel of her was indescribably enticing. Lower, past her flat abdomen, between her thighs was a garden of musk guarded with two ivory pillars, powerfully intoxicating to his urges. To TASTE - he caused her to thrash beneath him and moan loud enough to catch the attention of any of his guards. No proper definition of what he tasted and touched, before he decided his own body was not best left unattended to without the one sure way to go.

"Weyoun, wait," Kilana panted, putting her hands on his chest when his body came to rest over hers. "I want to touch you now." He nodded, closing his eyes when he felt her hands roam over his firm, defined muscles and his rippled stomach, chewing his bottom lip to prevent a moan from completely escaping as she touched the most sacred spot between his legs as he did to hers. This was nothing like the way his first had been. He remembered being young he was and not knowing what to do, and she seemed to know everything more than he did, but she hadn't shoved him away.

And Kilana seemed to know what she was doing, too, despite being pure. She could have picked up the subject reading somewhere else, or gotten tutorials from an experienced Vorta female friend. He couldn't ask now, not when they were just beginning what would be the last step to completing their union. "I'll be gentle with you," Weyoun breathed down to her when he shifted so his hips were aligned with hers, in the correct position.

"I trust you," she replied.

With the small bonfire made before their bed, they became one that night before the final battle would begin.

~o~

She could still feel him on her body even by the next morning when dawn broke and she dressed to join her husband when he met with the Jem'Hadar First-in-Command. Last night after she told him of the three brothers who fought but managed to overcome their differences, Weyoun made love to her and she accepted it, not being the one to make the first move and allowing him to take lead. He had embraced the light she helped him back into, and this was his way of saying how much he loved her without going into the details she did; for a powerful man influencing those beneath him, he lacked the proper words to express verbally.

By the time she looked at his face, she saw him stoned and determined. He was ready to go out and fight. The army was ready, he was ready, but first they were approached by Borath and the First. "We have reports on the army of Gelnon," First Viran'itan informed him. "They have the body of...Madam Ambassador Luaran with them, in Captain Gelnon's possession."

Kilana felt like her stomach would lurch by the time she learned this. Luaran was dead, and Weyoun had killed her himself. But even in death, she could still help destroy him. Borath and Viran'itan went on to explain how she was used as a good luck charm for the whole army. It made her snort. "Tell them that we have someone even more powerful than a dead woman," she stated. "Father, First, I will be riding off to battle beside my husband." If Gelnon himself wanted to see she was loyal as ever as he taunted his brother, she would show him.

"No, it's too dangerous," her father insisted.

"He's right," Weyoun agreed. "You don't have to prove your love for me."

She shook her head. It was not her intention to prove anything. "It will only raise the spirits of our men. The enemy has a dead Vorta lady, and you have a live one. A live one is even better."

All it took was First Viran'itan's concur to get her father and husband to reluctantly agree. She was going off into the battlefield after all.

~o~

The gates opened, and he with his wife beside him led the way out into the desert where the enemy awaited unexpectedly - or maybe they waited patiently and would strike upon spotting the other battalion coming for them. The morning was cold as they went forth to do their glorious battle. The Jem'Hadar were made to fight and die for those they served, and the Vorta commanded the bidding.

Ambassador Weyoun himself damned made sure to take his enemy by surprise. The fear in his heart was no longer present, boldly going forth on the attack.

And if he ever found Luaran's corpse, preserved as it was, he would leave Kilana to burn it in his absence, for he did not wish to look upon that face again. The face that haunted his nightmares for forty nights to come.

The sands whisked in the winds, but it did not reach him and his men to blind their vision. The army stood amount uman, on the cliff overlooking the camp in the distant. Weyoun looked briefly beside him to see Kilana in armor similar to him, a sheer curtain over her face to protect it from the sands. "Guard my wife," he said to the Jem'Hadar beside him. "She's more...precious to me than my own life." If he died then, then he died for her and knowing he spared her life. If Gelnon won, then he could only pray to the Founders to watch over her for him and guide her towards sparing her life from his devilish brother.

With that, he and a small party of soldiers moved forward, leaving the others to make a daring raid. There was an old saying that said fortune favored the brave and the bold, and those who learned from their mistakes.

Using a scope, Weyoun himself managed to find the leading guards of Gelnon's army, and they were soon taken out - just as Elos used it to find his father on his deathbed. It was as Kilana told him, Vorta master storyteller Deyos said that stories could save you - if you used your imagination to save your life. And to follow, like Akihiro and Miana, they let loose the jars of oil so they could leave their trails - and Weyoun himself used an old lamp, courtesy of Keevan, to throw it into the trail, setting the flames into the air. As a result, it reached all tents and set the Jem'Hadar inside on fire, screaming and smelling of char that would soon follow. It would spare the trouble of fighting with swords, much to the disdain of many of his own men, but this would save their ranks. Those who were not burned drew their phaser rifles and kar'takin to attack.

While his men engaged against Gelnon's, now Weyoun bared his teeth and drew his own kar'takin, ready to get to the man he wanted.

"Open sesame," he hissed, finding the tent, black as the soul of the one who owned it, and slashed the fabric so he stepped inside, finding the man himself - and behind him the motionless figure in black that he never thought he would see again.

"Weyoun," Gelnon seethed, holding his sword up in defense.

"It's time to...take responsibility for your actions, and die, brother," Weyoun returned, just like Ambassador Alrashid in the tale did and got the death he deserved. And with that, he threw his blade forward so it clashed with Gelnon's. The other Vorta counterattacked by bringing his blade upwards and trying to throw Weyoun off, but he missed and got himself thrown to the side. A part of the tent collapsed from the top, threatening to take the whole structure down and trap them both.

Outside, half of his own Jem'Hadar were kneeling down and aiming crossbows to attack from distance, and they succeeded by taking out half the enemy troops. In addition, others hidden in the sand - like Black Kuro's forty - emerged and swarmed unexpectedly. Gelnon's forces overall were caught in a pincer move in the hostile movement both front and back, side by side.

As for the two brothers and enemies, the tent collapsed in the midst of their duel, but Weyoun was the first one out, catching on in time to meet Gelnon's kar'takin, until his weapon was parried and knocked out of his hand, leaving him to draw out his dagger and pounce onto the ambassador, the latter being strong enough to hold back the menacing knife - all the while looking behind Gelnon to see the collection of additional kar'takin held together by a long rope that part of it ran forward...and lay beside him. He had an idea how to save his own life now.

He picked up the rope and pulled forward, the collection of deadly blades tilting forward - just like the stoned army in the tomb Keevan and the ring djinni were trapped in - and then he drew his leg upwards and kicked his brother in the middle of the abdomen, sending him backwards and sailing into the air...

...and Gelnon was pierced through the heart from behind by a kar'takin.

A rush of exhilaration coursed through Weyoun as he just lay there, looking up at his brother who was now bleeding from the nose and mouth. Death came in many shapes and sizes - and now it was Gelnon's turn. The life left his eyes, leaving Weyoun's own to brighten at his victory.

He was turning away from his brother's spiked corpse when he saw her coming his way on her stallion, a vision in golden armor. Kilana had come in the midst of the end of the fighting. She was looking down, and he followed her gaze. The body of Luaran lay there, having been revealed by a flapping piece of the fallen tent, and his decision still stood. They would light it up and burn it together, but first, there was one thing to do as she got down from her ride and ran towards her husband.

Amidst smoke, fire and death, Weyoun and Kilana shared a kiss more vibrant and passionate than ever before.

~o~

"The battle was won and over at last," Kilana stated with a smile as she looked down at the two beautiful boys in both her arms; the three of them lay in the same bed that she still shared with her beloved husband to this day after ten years of marriage.

"And Father won?" her eldest, Neruun, asked happily, being on the side of his mother with telling stories himself more than his younger sibling. But the proud mother loved both her sons just as much, for she smiled down at them both.

"Yes. Father won and saved not only Maduraa City and all of Kurill Prime - but all of the Dominion."

Both boys gasped and leaped back with joy. "That was exciting!" Cianan said, having wanted to hear more about his father's courage and his mother's intelligence. "You're really good at telling stories, Mother. Will you tell us another?"

Kilana laughed at their persistence in wanting to hear another story - and that was exactly what they inherited from their father. Their eagerness to hear more. But it was morning now. Gathering both her sons into her embrace and kissing them, she promised, "Tomorrow night, my boys. And when your father and grandfather join us, I will tell you all another story...tomorrow night."

This story is one of the best I am proud of, and no regrets. :) Like the other chapters before this, I played around with the real names of real cities both Arabic and Indian, just changed the spelling a little but kept it the same otherwise, same with the names of the three brothers - and the names of Kilana and Weyoun's sons are Irish based names. I should have said earlier this was the last chapter, like I normally do, but I decided to wait and see as this went on. Now that you know it is, I am pleased with the results.

Weyoun underwent more drama, betrayal and intrigue than he must have on the show, but as I was talking to a friend, she said that he played the role of the Sultan very well. :) As for Kilana herself, she was right from the beginning as Scheherazade. It is always important to make sure the RIGHT person is for the character, same with the other Vorta.

Read and review. :)