Wind Runner and the Dragon Senshi
Title: Wind Runner and the Dragon Senshi
Author: kazeko
Show: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Alternate Reality
Series: no
Multipart: yes
Chapters: 21
Rating: M15
Couples: Usagi/Mamoru, Haruka/Michiru, Makoto/Nephlyte, Ami/Zoicite, Rei/Jadeite, Minako/Kunzite, Setsuna/Ailan
Archives: Sailor Moon Alternate Reality, Neptune&Uranus, Makoto&Nephlyte, Ami&Zoicite, Rei&Jadeite, Minako&Kunzite
Time: The time of horses, knights, kings, and palaces, alternate reality
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Takeuchi Naoko, as does the senshi concept.
Disclaimer 2: As with so many of my other fics, I own the world and non-Takeuchi characters. Please ask before use.
Chapter 21: Waiting for the Moon
"Tokame is to marry Beryl? Queen Metallia, that isn't fair to the boy. She's twice his age!"
"He will amuse her and keep her off my back. He is a loyal servant, Zircon. I know your wife will understand the duty he is to perform. Besides, once Beryl no longer serves my purpose, I will eliminate that Northern brat with the rest of her family. She would want power that I reserve for my family. For you and your wife. One day your son will have a province of his own to rule, but he will never be able to if we do not win this long war. All we have to do is keep her busy for a while. I'm sure your wife and son would agree that it is the best thing to do."
Zircon nodded. "Very well, my Queen. You have never led us astray before. I will tell Tokame to prepare for Beryl."
"Also, have Luna and Artemis bring the prisoner to the pen outside. I am sick of dealing with her stubbornness. She will give me her power or I will kill her."
"Yes, my queen."
"How do you know she's even here?"
Kazeko shrugged, grinning at Seiya over her shoulder. "That's a palace, isn't it? Metallia calls herself Queen so she must live in a palace."
"This is the palace of the old Mirfanter clan who ruled most of the South for a very long time," Taiki pointed out, ever the smart one. "They were controlling the Dragons that lived in the mountains, stealing their lives to gain power, until the Senshi of the North swept down in the first of the Dragon Wars and destroyed them utterly. Apparently one of the young princes survived, because he allied with the last of the Easterners years later and attacked the North. The Senshi defeated him and turned their attention to annexing the warlike tribes of the desert, but they realized that those people would soon die off. I think tribes of wild cats swept into the desert from the high mountains and took over all of the land east of the Scrubland. In any case, some of his children allied with the West and attacked nearly two decades later, but the Senshi had been expecting something of the sort. They had enslaved clans of Dragons, bending them to their control, and the second Sailor Uranus, a fiery woman like your mother, managed to save the Dragons by killing the leaders of the army and ending the first of the Dragon Wars. Those Dragons were so grateful they swore service to the Crown for the rest of their days. They became the Ryntrilath Clan that lives above the palace to this day. They are always ready to defend us against evil. There is a rumor that the Southern Royal line is not quite dead and only hatred of the Senshi and especially the Sailor Uranus who killed off the four who were their last hope for victory keeps the last heir alive. That is only a rumor, of course. I believe that Ami-san may have uncovered even more information than that."
"If this is Queen Metallia's palace," Shousha mused, "then do you think she might be the last of the Mirfanter Line?"
"It would explain her ability to control Dragons," Hotaru pointed out. "I'm sure that kind of power has to be inherited and taught, not just taught."
"Then we have even more reason to get rid of her. Anyone that kills Dragons and controls them for personal gain deserves to die." Yaten clenched her fists, sensing her Dragon's agreement. "But how?"
"We have to wait for the right moment. Maybe we can sneak in as servants?"
"Good idea, Kazeko. But you look exactly like your mother and all six of us are far too powerful to hide easily."
"Easy, Seiya. We can cast a glamour to change us to look like those pathetic waifs. Setsuna managed to use one for twenty years."
Seiya nodded at her sister's suggestion. "Tonight, when the moons are high, we will craft the spell. Our power will be greater and easier to hide at that point." She glanced at the third moon, a small orb that reflected blue in the afternoon sun. The tiny seventh moon, purest silver, winked from over the horizon. "Isn't there another True Full Moon soon?"
"Yes, there is. This one and the one a few months ago will be the closest two in our history, one day closer than the night that created the Senshi in the first place. There is a prophecy about it, you know."
Yaten rolled her eyes. "Come on, Taiki. We don't need to hear this again."
"I want to hear," Shousha whispered, her sisters moving closer. "I don't know any prophecy about two True Full Moons so close together."
"Well, records say that the first High Queen, the first Sailor Moon and the woman who created the first Senshi, muttered a prophecy in her dying breath, warning that great evil would return to our peaceful kingdoms on a True Full Moon and would continue to return every True Full Moon until the gap between closed to the length of a Dragon pregnancy. Then the evil could be destroyed forever. But only a woman of the skies twice reborn could eliminate the evil, and only if she did it with love in her heart and her sword. If there was any anger or malice, any determination for revenge, in that strike, it would go afoul and the evil would persist until the next pair of True Full Moons. She said that she could not eliminate the Mirfanter Royal Line because the Queen had killed her first Dragon and she had anger in her heart when she attacked. She was too angry to find the power to truly eliminate the Royal Line. That is why the one son and some of the distant cousins survived. She suffered shame for that for the rest of her life, but her Senshi promised her that one day that evil would be gone. I think Metallia is that evil and this may well be our only chance to destroy her and end the Dragon Wars once and for all."
"None of us are powerful enough. Only Haruka would ever be, but she is Dragonless and she hates Metallia with a passion so fierce it could melt the sun." Seiya shook her head. "I like the hope in the prophecy, Taiki, but it a child's dream. This is reality. We should probably get some sleep so we're ready for tonight." She took Kazeko's hand and led the woman she was fast falling for into the tent that all six shared, hidden among the crags. Their Dragons were further away, hiding away from even the wilds nearby, since all of them were Metallia's spies. Nothing in the South was safe.
Michiru sighed as she stared out across the land, eyes straying to the darkened South no matter how hard she tried to look away. Rei and Minako stood behind her, acting as her generals in this war. They knew she needed them. "These are the caves where Arihlai and Haruka lived before she came to the palace. The scorch marks from the battle between her clan and Metallia's wilds will never truly fade. I know that she cannot live far from here, as quickly as she came when Haruka ran away, but I do not know where we should turn now. I cannot sense my daughters or Haruka's sisters."
"You do know," Kunzite whispered. "You have been staring South for hours. What is there, except that ancient destroyed kingdom?"
Ami took Zoicite's hand and pointed south. "That is where the civilization that hated and feared the Dragons once was. Eventually they tried to control them and the first Senshi, allied with Northern Dragons struck back. There is nothing south of those mountains except poor land and dry rivers. Nothing can live there with any measure of success and the Dragons that live above the mountains are the wildest, cruelest, most violent Clans of Dragonkind. No sane person would venture there."
"We're not exactly sane," Michiru replied, never turning to face the pair. "And neither is Metallia. That has to be where she is hiding. No one from the North would ever find her. And she would be able to attack very quickly and vanish, especially with such Clans as Haveret under her control. As much as I don't want to head South, it looks like that is where we are going. We will leave when the moons rise."
"There will be a True Full Moon in a few nights," Ami murmured.
"Another one? Goddess, let this one end better."
Setsuna and Ailan kissed their daughter goodbye as they climbed on their Dragons' backs. Usagi smiled, holding her twins close, as her mothers lifted off, heading South where they knew they were needed. Mamoru took her arm and pulled her back to Yuriko and Kiyoshi, watching as the princess handed her twins to the Queen of Kamiret, nodding at Chibiusa that she should join the red-haired woman. "I wish you weren't going to go fight her, Usagi-san. You are still weak from giving birth."
"I'm not, Yuriko-san. Having these two has made me stronger. Take Chibiusa, Kuri, and Kyusuke back to your kingdom and protect them from this evil. If I don't return from the palace, Chibiusa is Princess Serenity, and one day she must be allowed to take her throne. I know they will all be great Senshi some day."
"You will be here to see it, Usagi. I promise. My soldiers will take good care of you. You can always rely on them. We were there when Arihlai fell, and we will never let anything like that happen ever again. Remember, you can always trust your Dragon; they know us better than we know ourselves sometimes. Take care, Usagi." Yuriko bowed, the gesture of one queen to another, as Chavekn scooped his rider up. She took care to strap herself in, the twins in a special sling hanging in front of her, tied behind her back, and attached to the harness saddle that the Dragon wore, just in case something happened. Kiyoshi helped Chibiusa mount Zaarent, climbing up behind her as he strapped both of them in. Waving a sad farewell to the young princess, the king and queen of Kamiret vanished into the evening sky. Six moons watched them leave.
Usagi watched as the Senshi from Kamiret gathered around her, recognizing the little blonde as their leader. Demando, Saffir, Emerald, Rubius, Petz, and Kooan waited as Usagi looked north, toward her castle home. "Well, there's no sense in waiting. If we leave now, we should get there by nightfall. Mount up!" She raised her hand and smiled to find Seralii's nose under it as the golden white female scooped her rider up. Enreiyth gathered his rider, the black male already accustomed to the prince's weight, as the six Senshi from Kamiret followed suit. The last of the wild Dragons that followed the Senshi gathered in formation, following their Bound cousins into the sky, pointed toward a castle they all knew very well. It was time to take it back, in the name of the Moons.
To be continued