Chapter Eleven: Titles Gained, Titles Lost
It didn't take long for word to spread all over both Xadia and the remaining four kingdoms. The kingdom of Katolis had been destroyed, the Dragon Queen had arranged an evacuation of as many humans as possible, saving and sheltering just over a thousand out of the thousands and thousands that had called the kingdom home. She had stalled and slain the attacker, the old archdragon Sol Regem. A team of water dragons had both put out the flames and kept it from spreading to the neighboring kingdoms, a gesture that would be remembered in itself.
Queen Zubeia was exhausted as she finally made it back to the spire. Her only condolence was the crowd of humans at the foot of the mountain – the humans she had managed to save. She returned to her chambers on the verge of collapse. She knew she had to stay awake, though.
"Your Majesty!" Ibis gasped, seeing the bleeding gash on her face and the small burns littered throughout her body.
"Sol Regem is dead." she said, her voice thick with fatigue, "Katolis is gone." The elves gave each other shocked looks as she finally settled down and Zym ran up to her. She smiled as he nuzzled her. "It's okay, Azymondias. I'll be alright." she spoke soothingly.
"Your Greatness, your face." Jinku started.
"It's okay, Jinku." the queen said. "It'll heal. For now, I must rest. In the meantime, tell the humans they are welcome to stay here if such is their wish. They will be under our protection. All of you, take previsions down to them for the night; blankets, lanterns and whatever else they might need. First thing tomorrow you are to gather all of the elves willing to help, bring them here to help the humans in whatever they wish to do."
"Forgive me, Your Majesty" Lykis said, "The rogue Moonshadow elves have come back, this time to attack the humans. They have been apprehended and await your judgment."
"Tell Callum and Rayla." she said, "They won't stop until they confront her. Make sure at least two of you are present to protect her, the rogues will surely try something. Has anyone seen Amer as of yet?"
"Not since last morning, my queen." Malin said. "We'll continue to keep our eyes open." The queen nodded.
"Good, good." she laid her head down. Zym was delighted she had come home after these terrifying last hours and cuddled up with her. She rested her head by him. "You all have your orders, but I must rest now. I will see you all in the morning."
The Dragonguard bowed and left the chambers for the main room, from which they would enter the storage area. The queen's eyes closed, and the chamber was soon filled with the rhythmic breathing of a mother and son, sleeping away a stressful few hours.
The humans watched from below as three dragons, smaller than the queen, flew away from the spire. One heading for the Moonshadow Forest, another for some place ahead of the Storm Spire and the last toward the ruins of their kingdom. The Skywing elves again swooped down from the mountain, their arms laden with blankets and lanterns. Ibis, Jinku and the other Skywing elf disappeared somewhere in the crowd, quickly acceding back into the sky once they had been relived of their loads. As they kept leaving and returning with blankets and lanterns, one by one, those lanterns lite up the crowd. This continued for perhaps an hour.
Afterword, Ibis landed close to Callum, Soren, Ezran and Rayla, who were clustered a small way apart from the crowd, with three blankets and a single lantern between them. The brothers kept close together under one of the bigger blankets, while Soren and Rayla each had a smaller one. Opeli and Amaya both watched them closely, the general holding the lantern in her hand and her picture under her arm. They had each seen the elf before but had never spoken to him. They relaxed a little when Callum and Rayla promptly rose and hugged him in turn. Opeli didn't know, but Callum had spoken of his old mentor to Amaya many times. This must have been him.
A pair of sun dragons appeared, each with a single rider; Braise and Queen Janai. Following close behind was the same young water dragon who had first delivered the news of impending doom to the Dragon Queen, who knew more than he had previously let on. He hadn't thought such a detail was important at the time, but he had seen the exchange and had plucked up the cause of all of this off of his trail to deliver him to justice. Amer knew what was happening, where he was going, and he kept quiet in light of the fact that his sister was barely a stone's throw away, and allowed himself to be taken into the Storm Spire. Unaware of his presence, Janai instantly leapt off of her dragon and made a beeline for Amaya. Many were surprised to see the two wrap their arms around each other and share a deep kiss; some of them knew that their army general was romantically involved with the Sunfire Queen, but actually seeing it was something else.
When the kiss ended, Janai asked; "Is anyone hurt? What happened?"
"I can answer that." Ibis said, walking over to them from the kids, who he had finished consoling. Ezran and Soren were wandering off somewhere, leaving Callum and Rayla alone. "Sol Regem attacked their home." Janai's eyes grew wide with horror; Sol Regem was revered by her people, why would... "I don't know why, but he chose now to set the kingdom ablaze. Thousands of lives have been lost this night. Queen Zubeia managed to save these humans and Sol Regem is now dead."
Janai and Braise both seemed to despair at this. How in the world would they break all of this to the Sunfire elves? Amaya began signing, and Gren translated. "Does the queen know why he attacked?"
"I do not know." Ibis admitted. "But the battle has exhausted her majesty. She needs to rest now."
"Opeli, Corvus?" Ezran was able to find them easily as they'd been looking for him. "Can we talk?" The two exchanged concerned looks before they followed him to a large, jutting stone to be used as a landmark for a meeting place. Soren was already there.
As Ibis was relating what he knew from Queen Zubeia to Amaya, Gren and Janai, and Ezran was having a makeshift meeting with his closest advisers, Callum sat apart from most people, holding on to Rayla as if she, too, would somehow be taken from him if he didn't keep her close. Her arms were around his neck and his face was buried in her collarbone. Neither of them were crying, but both were clearly heartbroken and scared. Rayla was slowly petting his hair.
"Callum, Rayla." It was Ellis, Ava faithfully at her side. They broke apart to look at her, she'd grown some in the past year but it was still clearly her, even without the company of a three legged wolf.
"Hey, Ellis." Callum greeted as they came up to them. He gave a grunt as Ava somehow managed to overpower and flatten him to the ground with her one forepaw to lick his face, her tail now wagging away. Callum found himself smiling as he pushed the wolf off of him, hearing the girls laugh. "Okay, Ava, it's great seeing you, too."
"So, what have you guys been doing?" Ellis asked as Callum got back up. He and Rayla exchanged smirks as Callum slowly brought an arm out, making sure to face away from the crowd. Ellis watched in amazement as he drew a rune in the air, and with a cry of "Fulminous", a bolt of lightening shot from his hand. All eyes turned toward Callum in amazement. Rayla smiled as he turned back to Ellis, looking very proud. Callum and Rayla had expected something simple like 'that was amazing' or 'I didn't know that was possible'. Instead, what they got was a mystified "You're the White Mage."
"The what?" Callum asked, only vaguely registering the surprised looks of most of the humans and the amused looks of Amaya, Janai and Ibis; they must have just assumed he was showing off.
"The White Mage." Ellis said excitedly, "A human mage who can do real magic, no dark magic and no primal stone. I can't believe…I mean, I thought it could have been you, but…Oh, wow, I know the White Mage!"
The announcement seemed to start something and suddenly, Callum and Rayla were surrounded by a small swarm of children, gushing about the White Mage and marveling at the Moonshadow elf whose eyes were so much kinder than the others had been. They supposed it wasn't a bad thing to lift morale, especially among the children.
"Others?" Rayla asked. "What others?"
"Pardon me," an adult said, coming up to them "But there were five other Moonshadow elves, about your age. They were taken up that mountain when they tried to attack us. The Skywing elves said something about awaiting judgment from the queen." Above the renewed expressions of aw at the memory of the Skywing elf who saved them, the kids started back up. Callum stepped apart from the crowd and smiled at the kids' rapt attention as he summoned his mage wings. The kids were amazed as Rayla wrapped her arms around Callum's neck and held on tight as he lifted them up and flew into the clouds; it was time to end this.
"Do away with the monarchy?" Corvus asked, matching the astonished looks of the other adults in the circle. Amaya, Gren, Ibis and Janai had joined the conversation. Ezran stood fast. "Why?"
"After Da- King Harrow's death, Callum and I went missing." Ezran explained. "And from what I understand, everything was thrown into chaos. Viren kept making grabs for the throne and in all that time, the kingdom was without a ruler. Something like that can't be allowed to happen again. I'm eleven. I took up the throne at ten, and I was suddenly responsible for an entire kingdom. And a part of being responsible is admitting when something isn't working and changing it. I have two final decrees as king. The first is that Katolis and its monarchy are gone. From now on, we'll be a village, right here at the foot of the Storm Spire." He turned to Ibis. "Ibis, what's the ancient draconic word for 'new start'?"
"Novus, sire." Ibis bowed respectively, despite Ezran's decree.
"Novus." He repeated, testing it out. "Okay, the village Novus. And you said all kinds of elves are on their way to help us get too our feet?" The elf nodded again.
"Forgive me, Ezran," Opeli said. "But you seem to have given this some thought already."
"Yeah." he admitted. "From the moment Rayla told me about the attack. I knew this was a possibility, so I've been thinking about it. I admire Queen Anya and King Jiro for it, but I can't take being a child ruler. Kids aren't meant to be in courtrooms, making huge decisions and keeping the peace, that's what adults are for. Maybe I'm just tired, but I know this will be the better option. Novus, a village under a council and the Dragon Queen's protection; a place where humans and elves can live together."
The bit about the elves didn't surprise anyone. Given both his brother and aunt's relationships with elves, it was to be expected, almost. Opeli spoke up. "And the second decree?"
"Send letters to the four kingdoms." Ezran said. "Let them know what happened, that we are okay and not to attack Xadia over this. It's our home now."
"Very well, they will go out before the morning." Opeli bowed as Ezran removed his crown, feeling a massive weight lift from his shoulders along with it. He held it to a confused Opeli, who took it carefully. Confusion became surprise at the former king's next words.
"Opeli, I think you should lead the council."
Callum and Rayla were greeted by a furious roar when they arrived at the top of the spire. "Out of my sight, Amer, before I have your head!"
The aforementioned elf ran from the cavern and stopped short of bumping into them. The female Skywing elf appeared beside them, alerted by the roar. Queen Zubeia was awake, and angry by the look in her eyes as she appeared in the entrance of the spire.
"What's happening?" Callum asked.
"Tell them, Amer." the dragoness growled, her voice dangerously low. "Tell them exactly what you did."
Amer had lost his cocky and regal bearing and now cowered like…well, a coward before them. Amer had done nothing to put himself in the good graces of either Callum or Rayla, so they had no reason to be sympathetic to him. He stammered.
"I-I went to Sol Regem and t-told him about you and your aunt, and also of the dark mages and Aaravos." he stuttered out. Callum's mind went blank and fists clinched and were now shaking in rage. All of those people, dead. His old home, now gone forever. All because of Amer. The boy was seeing red. "I didn't mean for it to go this far, I just thought if I could –"
Amer didn't get to defend himself further, because Callum had slammed a fist right into his now bloody nose. Had the two elf girls not been so disgusted with Amer, they might have turned shocked eyes to Callum, who neither had ever seen act this way before. Rayla thought that Amer should count himself lucky that it was Callum and not a less forgiving soul. If it was her, she'd make sure he couldn't move for a month. Amer turned back to Queen Zubeia, annoying Rayla with the show of disrespect to Callum.
"I deserve whatever you decide." he dropped to his knees and bowed low, nose practically to the stone floor, creating a spot of blood. The queen scoffed dismissively.
"Vengeance is pointless." she said. "I meant to take revenge on the human King Harrow and his son in vengeance for my own mate and egg, and I woke up the next morning to see that nothing had changed. The king was dead, but Avizandum and our little one were still gone. So instead, you are dismissed from the Dragonguard and released into the custody of Queen Janai. I'm sure she'll know very well what to do with you."
"Your Greatness," the Skywing elf bowed. "Queen Janai is already here. She saw the trouble and came here on her own, it seems."
"Very well." Queen Zubeia nodded. "Take him down to the crowd and tell Queen Janai everything. Tell her I leave it to her to decide his fate. Now go."
The Skywing elf took Amer, who had gone pale at the prospect of his fate being in Janai's hands. She would be so furious, he almost wished Zubeia would deal with him herself. He was silent as they flew down the spire, leaving Callum, Rayla and the queen alone. She eyed them.
"We were told about the Moonshadow elves that keep following us." Callum said.
"They are in the holding chambers." She told him, her tone having calmed down. "Do come back in the morning, though. There is much to talk about." The pair bowed before leaving and Queen Zubeia returned to the chamber.
The holding chamber was a blank room, not unlike a prison cell in the lack of anything present. Callum was ready for how they instantly jumped at them, performing a spell called 'Aspiro Everro', which produced a gust that swept through the room, knocking each of them against the far wall, which he quickly froze them to with Aspero Frigis. As the five struggled against the ice, Rayla and Callum took the intruders in.
"Rayla! Get away from him!" one of them yelled to her. It was the elf who had given Ibis trouble at the foot of the spire. His skin was only a little lighter than Ethari's, his hair was spikey and the markings below his eyes looked like lightening bolts.
"Hi, Sirus." Rayla greeted, in a tone that said that she was already tired of this conversation. She took Callum's hand, fingers laced, and she held them up to show the clasped hands to the shocked elves. "Guys, this is Callum. He's –"
"A human." Another elf sneered. He had short hair, his bangs long and feathered into spikes. His markings were simple lines beneath his eyes. "Now they're infesting Xadia again!"
"Infesting?" Callum asked, trying not to be offended.
"We don't know what you did to her," Sirus snarled at Callum, "how you managed to charm both her and the Dragon Queen, but your little game ends here, human." Callum and Rayla shared a laugh at this; it was usually her who had been accused of kidnapping the boys in their earlier travels. It was quite the amusing little switch.
"The only thing Callum did was be there for me when you all dropped me without a second thought." Rayla was visibly annoyed now. Callum, to calm her down, released her hand and moved his hand to her shoulder, pulling her to him.
"Don't touch her!" Sirus yelled, "She's mine!"
This little declaration intrigued Callum, as well as the tired looks Sirus was now getting from not only Rayla, but his friends as well. He gave her a teasing smirk. "Old fling of yours? Should I be jealous?" As he asked this last question, he made a point of moving behind Rayla and grabbing her from behind, holding her close. Rayla laughed; he was gloating.
"He wishes." she told him and turned herself around in his arms. He wasn't the only one who felt like flaunting this taboo in his enemy's faces, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him; a deep, long kiss that nearly made his knees go week. She smiled into it, hearing the protests of the others.
"You know, if he wasn't a human, this would actually be kind of cute." said a female with longer hair than Rayla's and her eyes flanked by crescent moons.
"Kiara, snap out of it." Sirus snapped, "He's corrupted her! The Rayla we know wouldn't have left the others to die, she wouldn't have fought alongside the humans or befriended them!"
"Yet, here we are." Rayla quipped dryly, still holding on to Callum. He sighed.
"Look," he started, "it's been a rough day for us. We're not really in the mood for this and there's a bigger threat out there. There are dark mages and Aaravos wandering around."
"You brought him back?" Sirus went wide-eyed. "They said you were a mage, but not this dangerous."
"Sirus, if you're not going to listen, we're leaving!" Rayla declared, "We have better things to be doing right now. We'll just let your dad know to have you guys dropped off somewhere you won't bother us for a while."
Sirus had gone red with rage and struggled against the ice as Rayla, then Callum left and shut the door, leaving them in the room alone again.
Author's Notes: 'Novus' is Latin for 'New' and 'Everro' is a rough translation of 'Sweep'. So far, I've only gotten one suggestion for a timeskip, a long three years. Seems a bit excessive, I was thinking six months at the least, two years at the most, especially how everyone probably knows Viren and Claudia are still out there, it's not like Callum or Amaya would keep something like that quiet. Review.