Chapter 76

Only a few days after Amyr's meeting with Staefyn the imperial family left the city and headed to Edgeland Fortress with the forces they had gathered. Taeron and Amyr had gone ahead to prepare for their arrival, and when they had been at Edgeland Fortress for a week, the remainder of the imperial family arrived at nearly the same time as a dozen space craft from Ulfynaeus landed at the airfield. While Taeron greeted the emperor and his family, Amyr went to the landing field to meet the forces from the moon and was surprised to see Meridon step out of the first ship.

"By the gods, did my father know you would be coming?" Amyr could not even find the words to greet him properly.

Meridon crushed him in an embrace that knocked the breath from him. "I am pleased to see you as well, my son."

After the recent revelations concerning the night Meridon had prevented Trey from reaching the palace, Amyr could not believe the old clan chieftain had the temerity to come to the planet.

"My father is arriving as we speak." Gods, this could not be much worse! The imperials and clansmen would clash even before they could prepare them for a march on the plains where house Caron waited with Warlord Kai's army.

"Then take me to him now, boy." Meridon turned around. "Darlac!" he bellowed. "Set up camp!"

"Perhaps Darlac should accompany me and you should set up the camp," suggested Amyr although he knew Meridon would refuse.

He barked with laughter. "Are you afraid?"

"Terrified," he admitted.

"You should not be. Your father is no fool. He will meet with me."

Knowing that Meridon would listen to no argument, Amyr walked with him back to Edgeland Fortress, trying to answer his questions while worrying about presenting him to his father. He doubted that the emperor would be pleased to welcome the man who had played such an important role in keeping him from reaching his wife and ultimately allowing Caron and his sons to brutalize her. Now that he knew the truth of that night, he might punish Meridon more severely than exile to the moon, especially now that Meridon had disobeyed his edict exiling him from the surface.

When they came to the training ground, Amyr saw his father standing with Taeron and Lord Duo, the men deep in discussion, Trey's back to them. Amyr was relieved until he heard his mother's voice and saw that she was coming up behind the old man.

"Meridon? What are you doing on the surface?"

Meridon spun around to face the wife of the emperor. She was wearing a padded battle tunic, a long sword at her side and a dagger tucked in the belt. "Lady Arora." He dropped to his knee before her and bowed his head. "I have come to offer my service to the emperor."

"Do you think he wants your service?" She glanced at Amyr with her brows raised as if he had the answer to her question.

Meridon raised his head to look at her. "Would he refuse another sword?"

"Will you give him your oath?"

"I am here to fight for him. Is that not enough?" His shaggy white brows were drawn together.

Arora leaned down to look him in the eye. "Why should he want a man at his side that would not swear allegiance to him?" She did not have to add 'Especially after what you did.'

"Does he have a choice?" growled Meridon.

"He always has a choice."

Meridon glanced at Amyr, then back at her. "I have accepted his son."

"You mean to say that you have stolen his son after calling his rights into question because of your own actions."

"My lady, I had to force his hand."

Amyr saw that his father noticed them and he was now walking in their direction with Taeron and Lord Duo. "Mother," he warned, nodding towards them.

She straightened and stepped aside for her husband.

"Meridon? I do not recall giving you permission to return to the surface. Can I assume that you are on your knees to give me your oath?"

"You may not," grunted Meridon. "I was paying my respects to your wife and I cannot get back up."

Amyr glanced at his father and saw that he was frowning down at the much older man. "This position would make it easier for me to take your head."

Meridon tugged on his beard and wriggled his bushy brows at Trey. "Is keeping my head dependent on whether I give you my oath?" He glanced at Amyr's mother. "My lady, may I give you my oath?"

She sighed with exasperation. "Because I killed Zeno? Meridon, my lord husband defeated Zeno in honorable battle. Just because he showed him mercy makes him no less the victor in their duel."

"What has mercy to do with ending a tyrant's reign?" demanded Meridon gruffly and Amyr could hear the anger underlying his question. "That bastard and the demon he kept at his side killed many of my people, three of my sons were among the countless slain by his command. Two of my daughters were sold at his slave block! Why should I give my oath to the man who would not end his miserable life?"

Amyr's father let out a noisy sigh of exasperation. "Why did you come to the surface?"

"I brought my men to support Prince Taeron," Meridon told him boldly. "The only decision you have made that I agree with is setting aside your sorcerer son to make a warrior your heir." The older man looked up at Amyr. "I mean no offense, boy, but I knew the first time I saw you that you had Guerani magic in you. My people traded with them when they came out of the hills offering their healing skills to people suffering in the Wastelands. I heard enough about you to know that you were following in the footsteps of your mother's brother, and when you came to my camp, I knew exactly what you were or what you were about to become."

Amyr shook his head. "Why did you not tell me?"

"Because you were as arrogant as your father once was." Meridon glanced at Trey with squinty eyes. "Do you deny that?"

Trey folded his arms over his chest. "We are at an impasse, Meridon. I have every right to punish you."

"You do, but you won't because you need my men."

"How do you know that Darlac won't kneel to me with his oath?"

"He would kneel only to Prince Taeron as I have." Meridon glanced at Taeron. "Would you take my oath?"

"I am not your emperor," Taeron told him.

Meridon gave an exasperated sound. "Does it mean that much to you, Trey? My men will not turn on yours in battle. They have fought valiantly for Taeron under the banner of the empire, and they will fight to the death defending your rule."

"And yet ..."

"By the gods!" roared Meridon angrily, his face darkening. "I will not give you my oath! If you wanted it, you should have cut off that bastard Zeno's head!"

Amyr reached out to place a hand on Meridon's shoulder and as the man relaxed, he caught an approving nod from his mother.

Trey stared at him in silence for several moments, his hand on the hilt of his own sword and Amyr worried that he might draw it and remove the old chieftain's head, but he finally relaxed his stance. "What did you think Caron was going to do when you agreed to prevent me from returning to Imperia? Did you know he planned to brutalize my mate and kill her?"

Meridon rubbed his face with his hands, and then he looked at Arora. "He asked me to detain Trey so that he could not make it back and if he slipped through my warriors, he would be prevented from entering the palace." The old man's eyes glistened with tears. "I never would have agreed to your death."

"No," she said with a sardonic lift to her brows. "You agreed to publically shame me and call my son's rights into question."

"Dax shamed you," Meridon reminded her. "Rather, Camridaeus did. The Dax I knew never would have put his daughter in the Wastelands, certainly not after the trickery he used to save her at birth. As for Caron, his sons were close to Dilan, and they claimed that Dilan put that child in your belly." He glanced at Amyr and grunted. "You have the look of your father, certainly not of Xuxa's gods' cursed bastard."

"Caron used you in his own ambition to seize power," Trey told him. "What did he promise you in return for your alliance?"

"Freedom." Meridon sighed deeply. "My people were harassed for many years by imperials, for our customs, for our alliance with the Guerani, and when Zeno's father hunted them down, the harassment became persecution. Do you know how difficult it was to live in the Wastelands? When we found a place to settle, Zeno sent his warriors out to harry us into leaving and we wandered homeless to another settlement when he would send the warriors from Edgeland to attack us. You led one or two of those forays against us."

Amyr glanced at his father and saw that he was frowning. He knew that Trey had done many things that went against his nature because Zeno had demanded it. "I do not doubt that I did. So you believed that Caron would grant you the freedom to live in peace on the plains?"

"Should I have trusted you?"

"I suppose not." Amyr wondered if his father would have continued the persecution of Meridon's clan. Imperials did not understand those that chose to live outside the customs dictated by the imperial court. Even in his time warriors went into the hills to subdue clans that had not fled to either moon, and in his grandfather's time they had nearly destroyed an entire race.

"I can only offer my humblest apology to Lady Arora," Meridon told him and then looked at Amyr's mother as he dropped to his knees and leaned forward until his head was touching the ground, his arms stretched out to her. "I am shamed by what happened to you, gracious lady. I do not ask for your forgiveness because I do not deserve it."

She did not think long on her answer. "Good, Meridon, because I have no forgiveness to give you. While you are down there, give your oath to my husband because he has earned your loyalty. He has ruled all these years with fairness that has allowed you to maintain your customs and to prosper under the benevolent rule of his imperial guard."

For several moments they could only hear Meridon's heavy breathing as he remained in his supplicant pose, and then he growled. "I, Meridon, give you my oath on the honor of my house and my people, to serve and protect you, Trey of house Zeno."

Trey shared a smile with his wife before he said, "I, Trey of house Zeno, give you my oath on the honor of my house and my people, to serve and protect you, Meridon."

Lord Duo who had remained silent throughout now stepped forward to help haul the giant old man to his feet. "I am up for a celebration."

"We don't have much to celebrate," Trey reminded him wryly.

"We are heading out to the plains in a few days to meet an enormous army that is significantly larger than ours and well trained," said Duo. "It's like old times."

"Except that we are a little older and have a lot more to lose," Trey reminded him with a glance that went from Amyr to Taeron.

Amyr looked at Taeron who did not seem to be bothered by the odds they would be facing. He wondered if he worried at all that he might not live to see his daughter's birth, but he could no longer read Taeron's feelings.

"However," his father continued, "I would not object to a feast celebrating this momentous event. Duo, are you going to tell Larya to get that feast prepared with no advance notice?"

The look on Duo's face made Amyr chuckle and even Taeron smiled.

"I will do it," said Arora with a glance skyward. "I do not know why you men are so afraid of her."

Meridon grunted. "Perhaps I should send some of my men to help her if she is not up to the task of preparing a feast."

"By the gods! Don't let her hear you say that," warned Trey. "Or you will never hear the end of it."

The older man rubbed his hands together. "I am eager to meet this female."

"You have never met my mother?" asked Taeron with surprise.

"Why would I have the occasion to meet her? I have heard much of her, though. Darlac speaks highly of her although I have sensed some trepidation on his part as well. She must be truly frightening." He held out his hand to Arora. "Let me accompany you, gracious lady. Come with me, boy."

He had glanced towards Amyr who was standing near Taeron, and since they did not know which of them he spoke to, neither moved at first. Indeed, the emperor started as if to accompany them as well as Lord Duo, and since Taeron knew both older men did not purposely put themselves in Larya's company, he closed the distance and offered his support to the hobbling man. Amyr joined them because he thought he might be amused by Meridon's meeting with Taeron's mother. He noticed that their fathers followed at a discreet distance, probably for the same reason.

Since the old chieftain did not hesitate to offer his hand to her, knowing what she was, Amyr's mother took it and after a moment of walking, leaning heavily on Taeron, he remarked, "You have a wondrous healing touch, gracious lady. You probably do not know that your father's healing skills were extraordinary, even for a Guerani. His father, Yaral, had healed Zeno after he had been attacked and poisoned by a mountain viper, and Dax had been his apt pupil. Yaral had been proud of his skills."

"You knew my father, then?" inquired Arora with a glance up at Meridon.

"And your grandfather," he pointed out and laughed gruffly. "I am a very old man, my lady, old enough to have been chased out the hills by Zeno's father, old enough to call Yaral friend. Who do you think Dax brought Valerya us to when she was just a child? I counseled him not to go to the imperial court, not to try to exact a vengeance which could never be satisfied. Perhaps Camridaeus gripped his heart then."

"Your people raised my mother?" asked Arora curiously. "She came to the imperial city with Xuxa, did she not?"

"Valerya became acquainted with Xuxa when they were children. In the hot months my clan lived in the sacred hills where the imperials feared to tread and we were friendly with Joran's tribe." Meridon snorted. "I don't know how that fool survived the cold season in the hills, but he would not go into the Wastelands, said they were cursed."

Amyr exchanged a glance with Taeron. They both knew that Joran's tribe had probably found hot springs to keep them warm through the winter months. Although Joran's tribe was also now living on Ulyfynaeus, they had been relatively safe from imperial incursions while Meridon's large clan was frequently attacked by the empire.

"Both of those females grew to be great beauties, and during the cold months when we were settled in a Wasteland camp, Zeno was in the hills hunting with Dax when he happened on Joran's people." Meridon shook his head and made a sound of disgust. "Knowing the crown prince might return with his warriors or that he might order his imperial guard to slaughter them, Joran prepared a feast welcoming Zeno. Ever ambitious, Xuxa made certain to be the female that waited on Zeno and Dax and he was appreciative of her efforts. In his youth, he was a randy male that took whatever female attracted his attention."

Meridon looked over his shoulder at Amyr and winked which made Amyr lower his gaze shamefully, especially when his mother looked at him disapprovingly at him. "Joran offered her to keep him warm in his furs through the night and she put her talents to work. In the morning Zeno took her with him, but he would not give her his oath or bond with her. He seemed to have a sense to keep her from resorting to trickery."

"My father," guessed Arora. Amyr wondered if she was thinking of the trickery Xuxa had used on a small child. "How did my mother come to court?"

Meridon sighed deeply. "Xuxa became a very powerful woman, especially when she ripened with child. Zeno's interest had quickly waned, especially when he met Virinea, but he gave Xuxa a place in his house and as the acknowledged concubine of the crown prince, she could do as she pleased."

She had been doing as she pleased before that, thought Amyr wryly, since the child she bore was not Zeno's, but Dax's. Amyr suspected that Zeno knew about their affair and did not care, especially when he had fallen in love with the beautiful alien female to whom he had given his oath.

"Although her father and his tribe viewed her actions as dishonorable, they could not turn her away when she visited them in the hills, not when she was accompanied by imperial warriors. During one such visit, we were also visiting, and Xuxa and Valerya struck up their friendship again. Xuxa wanted Valerya to go back to the court with her, to help her through the difficult time of bearing her child, and I did not want her to go, but Valerya insisted there was something in the imperial city waiting for her. I could not refuse her although I knew I would never see her again."

"She was drawn to my father," Arora remarked aloud. "She once told Apolo that she recognized Dax as her other half the first moment their eyes met."

"Mating among siblings was rare among the Guerani," Meridon told her, "but not forbidden. They did not know each other since she was a small child barely walking when he left her with us, but they knew that the gods meant for them to be together." He squeezed her hand. "You and Apolo are their legacy, their hope for your people."

The fact that Camridaeus was drawn to Ulfynaeus probably shared in the attraction between Dax and Valerya, but Amyr knew it was not the only reason his grandparents had fallen in love. Their love for each other had kept Camridaeus at bay until that fateful night when Valerya had died shortly after his mother's birth. Even with Valerya's essence inside, Dax could not resist the evil of Camridaeus.

They had reached the hall where Larya and Apolo were directing men to find temporary housing, and seeing Meridon, Apolo stopped speaking and his brows drew together as they came closer. "Meridon? You gods' cursed bastard! How dare you come to the surface?"

Amyr could see that his uncle was furious that the man who was partly responsible for what had happened to his sister dared to violate the edict exiling him to the second moon.

"Meridon has given Trey his oath," Arora announced.

"And he accepted!" Apolo was outraged.

Larya put her hand on her mate's arm and Amyr was amazed that her touch was enough to calm him even without Guerani power. "Be reasonable, Apolo. Trey cannot afford to send away an ally offering warriors because of a past transgression."

"Larya," warned Apolo. "What happened to my sister is more than just a transgression."

"To her it was much more," sniffed Larya. "But to you and that oaf that rules Calabria, it is a transgression upon your male honor and, I daresay, your ego. Renaeld did what he did and got what he had coming to him."

"She is right," Arora announced although Amyr agreed with his uncle. "I have lived with this for many years. I wanted to tell Trey at the time, but I had an infant at my breast and Trey was celebrating a decisive victory. Renaeld was happy to escape with his life, but he did escape and he was at the head of a sizeable force that could have challenged Trey again. House Caron and I had an unspoken treaty between us."

"One you had no right to make," snapped Apolo.

Amyr guessed that their stay in the trance had not gone well and the most important issues remained unresolved.

Meridon remained silent during the exchange, his gaze on Larya who now turned to look at him. For a moment neither spoke, and then Larya said, "You are the inconsiderate male who has given me with the task of finding food for your troops before you set out on this foolhardy campaign."

His shaggy white brows raised momentarily, and then he smiled. "I am honored to meet the female that has given Calabria its crown prince." He patted Taeron's arm on which he was leaning heavily.

She noticed how he was standing. "Forgive me, Lord Meridon. There is a comfortable seat in my private chamber. You are an old man and need some rest after the flight from the moon."

Meridon frowned at her. "I am old, that is true, but the flight from the moon is only a few moments..."

"Regardless, you must need rest as much as I need you out of my way. I had heard that you are an old man who stays in his mud hut resting all day with his legion of daughters to wait upon him." Larya took a dim view of men who subjugated females and she must have decided he was one such man.

Amyr almost chuckled at the stunned look on Meridon's face, and he turned to see that his father and Lord Duo were trying not to laugh. Taeron appeared to be embarrassed by his mother, but then, when was Taeron not embarrassed by her?

"Are those females truly your daughters or do you just enjoy the company of beautiful young females hovering about you within your reach?" continued Larya, barely pausing for a breath.

Meridon threw up his hand before him and Amyr could sense the indignation rolling off him. His mother and uncle moved protectively towards Larya although Amyr did not sense any violence in him.

"By the gods, mother," hissed Taeron. "You have gone too far."

She shrugged. "I know very little of him, only that he has many females that he hides in his camp, calling them daughters when they are far too young to be his daughters."

The old chieftain pressed his lips together for a moment, and then he said, "Lord Apolo had many such daughters that he rescued from the sands. Not every imperial had the stomach to leave a child to die. In the dark of night, I have accepted many such infants and raised them as my own."

There was not a single person who was not surprised by his revelation. Amyr had always assumed that Meridon had not bonded with his wife and that he had many concubines who bore him children. He wondered if Lord Duo even knew the truth, and with a glance back, he saw that both his father and his imperial guard could not hide their surprise.

"He raised my mother in such a manner," Arora spoke up, giving Meridon a smile of gratitude.

Before anyone could react, Meridon's huge beefy hand shot forward and he grasped Larya's chin, and he tilted her face up so that she met his gaze. Apolo was on his toes, his body trembling with fear and rage to see his mate handled by another man and Taeron was tense, his grip on Meridon's other hand tightened.

For a long, agonizing moment, no one spoke and then Meridon asked, "Were you a child of the sands, Lady Larya?"

She blinked up at him. "I … I believe so. I have little memory from before my arrival in the imperial city."

"I have rarely seen a Calabrian with white hair." Frowning, Amyr realized that he had never seen a young Calabrian with white hair either except Jeshed who was not really Calabrian. Even Meridon's hair had as much gray as white.

Meridon's gaze moved over her face, and Amyr could sense sorrow in him, but he could not determine why. Then Meridon released her and a smile touched his lips. "Female, you may lead me to your comfortable chamber, and I will stay out of your way as long as your bring me some of Lady Trynity's tea."

"Maybe we should get Trynity to give him some of the special tea," Amyr heard Lord Duo murmur to Trey.

"I would rather she give me some of that special tea," responded the emperor. "Not as potent next time. I would like to enjoy it a little bit longer."

"I doubt she will be taking special orders from you," said Duo, "And your wife is glaring at you."

Trey winced.

Amyr chuckled as he watched Meridon leave with Larya holding him on one side and Taeron supporting him on the other. He heard Meridon tell Taeron that he brought a little something his women had cooked up on the moon and that the emperor's wife probably was not going to like it.

Amyr suspected that his father would like it too much.