It had come from nowhere, the rumbles of thunder and darkening clouds just short of a day after departing Volarys. The wind carried foreboding and as General Marcus Acacius stood against it, feeling it on his skin and against his beard, it tingled with threat.
"There's a storm coming, General." One of his chosen ten approached from behind, body tense with attention and dread.
"We have navigated storms before." Acacius did his best to keep the dubiousness from his voice. "We will navigate this one too."
"But, Sir… These waters are unfamiliar. There could be reefs, buried islands… It would be safer to go back. It's less than a day's sail, we should-"
"We have enough of a journey to return to Rome, we will weather the storm as we have many others. Onward."
"ARLO!"
Lightning lit the windows as rain pelted the glass; the only thing between them and the storm erupting outside.
"Arlo…"Dropping to her knees, pain ignored, at the appearance of the Rottweiler-sized dragon who skittered to her call and fell into her eyeline, waiting for instruction.
"Scatter the Triplets."Alerna instructed through a pant, but already fearing it to be too late."Send them to get the others to go and herd the Legion back here. Come straight back and do not go beyond the mouth of the bay. The winds are too strong, my darling, and I cannot lose you but I need you to go now."
Acacius would hate himself for those words, for that order, for that dismissal but only when it was too late.
Water sloshed the sides of the ships faster than it could be bucketed out, rowers below were being overwhelmed, gasping for breath in between barrages of waves that lashed the undersides. In fact, it came to the point where the whip-bearing masters scurried upstairs to flee the quickly-filling galley and abandoning the slaves to drown.
The General clambered on sodden steps, gripped a slickened railing to gaze in horror at the sight before him; rain torrenting in sheets across his vision, reducing visibility to almost zero. True, it had been nearing dark anyway but now… he could see nothing.
But he could hear them. Calls of distress from nearby vessels as furious water crashed upon wood, sloshing onto the decks and escape seemingly hopeless; over the howls of the wind, that is.
What have I done?
His own ship took a mighty lurch, throwing him like a ragdoll against a nearby post; pain erupting in his shoulder when it connected. Scrambling against the saturated deck, Acacius did his best to remain calm and correct his composure as his men would expect of him. But after that, what did he do?
More lightning flashed against the sails illuminating something that had not been there before. Through the agony, Acacius squinted through the deluge hitting him in the face like hail and spotted something that had made his blood thicken to ice in his veins once before. The long, drawn-out bellow all but confirmed it to be a dragon.
Previously spotting the Triplets had been well into the bay of Volarys and knowing there to be only a certain area the beasts inhabited clicked something in the Roman's mind.
"FOLLOW IT!"He bawled over the downpour and wind, gesturing furiously to the animal in the sky."IT'S TRYING TO LEAD US BACK! FOLLOW IT!"
While the monster had remained at a distance, but enough to be noticed, that would soon change. Knowing little of the dragons (bar the smaller three he had been introduced to) Acacius could only guess as to which one this was. It (he or she, he could not tell) neared and the sheer size of it landed in his realisation. This was not one of the Triplets.
As it swept overhead, its undercarriage seemed endless but with it came a massive draft as it dived once more for the clouds and shoved the remaining ships below with a beat of its enormous wings; driving them forward through the wind and the rain.
Over and over, multiple large dragons took turns in doing the same thing; forcing the ship through the storm and back towards Volarys. In the meantime, every remaining soldier (Acacius included) clung to their ship for dear life; some lucky, some unlucky in their injuries. Head bowed against the rain and panting as every immense blow of scaly wings threatened to loosen him from where he had hunkered down, the General could do little but wait.
Over the gales, the dragons continued to call to each other; unaware of the complete upheaval they caused below but following instructions from their beloved mistress, they did as they were bid. Whatever the cost.
Unfortunately, like so many others who found themselves losing their grip and hurling across the deck, Acacius, too, felt his fingers loosen and with one final WHOOSH from overhead, became engulfed in darkness.
It was not like Alerna to keep vigil at an enemy's bedside but Acacius had demonstrated something that kept her there. Of course, with Saf hovering in the background, she could not be completely at ease but did her best to focus.
"Such fret." Her grandfather commented with a tone that would not end well. "All this for an invader when one's own father-"
"My father was a traitor."Alerna murmured firmly, eyes still unwavering on the still face of Acacius."Worse than that, he was a murderer."
"I think murderer may a be touch on the dramatic, My Lady-"
"No." Having enough, Her Ladyship rose from where had spent the last few hours, where she had been rooted since Acacius and his men had been safely brought ashore. Alerna was no stranger to laying truths before Saf but tired, weary and stressed, she was not about to suffer him now.
"We very narrowly avoided a Roman invasion." She laid out plainly, her cold eyes boring into his. "Thankfully, it turned out as well as it possibly could have. Had Acacius made a different choice, blood would have been spilled and I wanted to avoid that. My people have been on tenterhooks, we could have been a Roman territory during my rule and I could never-"
"I wonder, My Lady, what the people would think or say if they knew you kept vigil at our invader's bedside?"
Alerna fell silent, calculating. Had those words truly left his lips?
"One more word out of your mouth that I don't like and I will rip your tongue from your head myself."It was Saf's turn to fall silent, calculating. But Alerna was not finished.
"I might actually gift it to Sinta."She went on with soft menace as if the thought only just occurred to her. "It would be little recompense for the brother she only knew by heartbeat through his shell and when she hatched, he was gone. But it may be a start."
Either brave, foolish or both, Saf chose not to heed the warning and matched her in boldness.
"It just feels, My Lady, that private luncheons, walking arm in arm on the beach, allowing him into your bedchamber… that your people's security is not as high a priority as you claim."
Alerna stared at the sheer nerve, unable to conceive that he chose to poke the dragon; so much so, she allowed herself a bark of disbelieving laughter. Leaning past her grandfather, Her Ladyship found the eyes of the guard who had accompanied Saf to her vigil.
"Take him downstairs until my mood changes."
Before protest could erupt and unwilling to disobey, said guard took Saf by the arm (more gently than Alerna would have liked but she let that go) and in lowered tones, urgently pressed the situation. With little more than a look of disgust, Saf was removed.
'Are you really going to rip out his tongue?"
Flooded with relief, Alerna rounded on the bed and returned to where she had wiled away the last few hours.
"Thank the Gods you're alright…"
"I don't feel alright."
"You have a serious concussion. Your shoulder was almost dislocated. On top of other bumps, scrapes and cuts. Many of your men weren't so fortunate." Taking in the beaten and broken Roman General before her, a mess of his former specimen, Alerna allowed herself a sigh. "I'm so sorry, Acacius… But you took very heavy losses at sea. Your death toll is in the hundreds and that's just what we know of. The Triplets are scanning the water for survivors but… they aren't finding many."
"I need to return to Rome."
"Absolutely not. Not in your condition. If nothing else, your fleet is decimated with weeks worth of repairs before you'll be able to go anywhere. You need to heal."
Acacius sank back against the abundance of pillows placed there for his comfort. His whole form ached and simply to breathe felt like labour. He didn't feel like a General, just a bruised and mangled sack of meat. He'd been injured before. Wounded before. But this met a whole new level of humiliation of it happening on "enemy" territory, relying on the "enemy" for rescue and their aftercare being orchestrated by the "enemy".
"I'll get you something for the pain. And to help you sleep." Alerna stood and made ready to depart, smoothing down her dress as she did. "Do you think you could manage some food? Soup? Broth? Eggs? The draught is harsh on the stomach, I would advise having something to eat."
"Just bring me a jug of wine."Acacius replied miserably, barely managing to turn his head to heed her concern."I will drown my sorrows for this utter failure."
"If we are doing this, we are doing it correctly." Her Ladyship retorted, reclaiming her seat at the side of his bed to drive home her point. "It's like this, Acacius: You want to go back to Rome? You need to get better first, which means abiding by my medical staff." The pitiful creature in the bed, however, softened her. "You've taken a blow today, I understand. But this will pass. And when it does, we will get you back to Rome. But it will take time."
Once more, Alerna attempted to leave to attend to her task, having seemingly assumed the caretaker role but was intercepted when she felt a calloused hand closed around her wrist.
"Will you come back?"
"I'm going to get your food and your draught, I shall be back." She reassured with a mild tone of surprise at the desperation radiating from the bed; her wrist still painlessly in his grasp. She could have sent a servant to do it but as Lady of the region, she felt it her responsibility.
"Will you stay? Just until I can sleep again?"Surprise deepening, Alerna took a moment to take him in. Maybe he's not in his right mind. Maybe the concussion is taking its toll.
"If you like." The raven-locked darling assured, indulging him with kindness and twisted her wrist in such a way as to clasp his hand comfortingly and giving it a squeeze. "I will have to return to my duties at some point but I can wait for you to fall asleep again. If you like."
Acacius woke later to a rumbling growl; he had only heard its like before in the Colosseum. A deep, coarse, rumbling growl that marked the end of a gladiator's life before he was torn apart by a lion or a tiger. It was punctuated by a quick, sharp snap of the chamber door closed.
"Arlo…?"He rasped, feeling heat radiating from the bottom of the bed."Is that you…?"
With a few candles still lit within his chambers (Alerna's father's chambers), he could just about make out the dog-sized, silver-blue mass just by his feet. The protective growl turned to a friendly chirp of confirmation, claws padding further up the bed at the question; chittering away as if in conversation. Typical for the spoiled, adored and indulged Arlo, he did as he always did when in Alerna's bed; scuttle his way up the bed and cuddle into her torso.
With great effort, Acacius managed to lift his hand and gift the scaly creature a stroke down its smooth back. Just by having Arlo closer, the temperature seemed to rise.
"I would love to understand you."The General told the beast with yet another stroke."The way she does. I know I'm unworthy but you are utterly fascinating. You truly are something to behold."
It was with that and enough heat and affection for Acacius to resume unconsciousness.
"Something to eat?"A familiar voice chanced uncertainly at an unknown hour of the morning; it turned out to be nearly noon.
"Hmm…?"
"Acacius, are you hungry? Some eggs?" That sweet chittering continued beyond the voice he knew so well.
"Perhaps…?"
"You need protein to heal."
"True."
Alerna made her way into the chamber with ease; allowed by the darling dragon with little more than a wagging tail of excitement; one that swished heavily with each pass it made.
"I hope you don't mind that I left Arlo with you last night." Her Ladyship resumed her seat beside Acacius' bed; fresh-faced after a night of sleep, clothes changed and bathed. "For both comfort and security. Saf, naturally, isn't happy and I wasn't taking any chances. And I needed to go into delegation mode; you know how that can be."
"As I said before, My Lady, I am not a politician. Merely a soldier. Such things are not in my purview."
"You might not be a politician, Acacius." Alerna temperately agreed, stroking Arlo absentmindedly while invested in the conversation. "But you are still a leader. Your men look to you for guidance."
The General allowed himself a bitter chuckle that prompted a sigh from his visitor. Guidance. I guided them straight into a storm that devastated everything.
"And where did that get me yesterday?"
"Even great leaders make mistakes."
"That mistake cost me hundreds of men."He uttered numbly, wallowing in the failure while he stared at nothing."My fleet is in ruin. Time lost. I was warned to turn back but I refused. I don't even know if the man who warned me perished or not."
"You're no good to anyone tormenting yourself like this." Crossing her legs and straightening her back, had Acacius been more tuned in, he would have known this reshuffling of her position as she meant business."Let us examine the positives, shall we? There has been no loss of life overnight. Your surviving men are stable and expected to recover fully." A small relief to be sure but the typically proud Roman merely grimaced as Alerna went on. "We were able to recover twelve more men from the water alive before the sharks got to them."
"We were also able to assess the damage to your remaining ships at first light and repairs are possible but as I said last night, it will take time. I understand your urgency but as it stands, you, your men and your vessels are fit to go nowhere."
In the event that Alerna was not getting through to Acacius in her gentility, she opted for a different tactic instead.
"Think of it this way." Sitting forward and inserting herself into his eyeline, forcing herself into his attention span. "If I let you leave as you are. As your fleet is. As your men are. IF you make it back to Rome, what way do you think your Emperors will recieve you? The Great General Marcus Acacius, trailing back to Rome, beaten and bloody? It would undermine the very Roman Legion itself and they will take it as an insult. And if they found out you weren't able to take Volarys? It is very much to your advantage to bide. your. time."