Nerise extended her fingers in greeting. Darby took her hand in his and bowed to kiss her hand.
“Greetings and Salutations, my illustrious and gracious Lady Viscountess, I too have been anxiously awaiting the time I could introduce myself, and hope you find me a worthy husband for your divine, and magnificent daughter,” Darby said.
“My, what a well-spoken young mage knight. I so look forward to getting to know you better. However, you must all be weary and famished from the journey. Let us all repair to the dining hall and satiate our appetites,” Nerise said.
Nerise, and three younger women, led us into the dining hall. Nerise seated me in the center of the table, then Selene on her right and Darby next, and the rest as custom dictated. Selene’s elder sisters did not look happy at all. Was her mother really intending on getting Selene pregnant on her wedding night? Why hadn’t her elder sisters married yet?
We proceeded to have a lovely meal. At the conclusion, Nerise said.
“Now, your majesty and guests, if you will allow my pages to show you to the modest offerings we have for accommodation. My darling third daughter Selene stay, along with your fiancé, Diarmuid. We will retire to my drawing room, as there is much to discuss, and prepare, for your whirlwind marriage.”
“Yes, mother,” Selene said.
“Yes, my Lady,” Darby said.
Later that evening when Nerise had concluded her meeting with the bride and groom. We all met up in the gardens, where we talked as we walked.
“She’s totally doing it! There’s going to be a bedding ceremony. I know she’s going to spike my drink, so I get pregnant!” Selene said.
“Do you have a plan? Have you talked to her privately?” I said.
“No amount of talking will change her mind. This is all my elder sisters fault. They both keep refusing to marry the suitors Mom has set them up with, and they aren’t interested in looking for anyone, either!” Selene said.
“I was wondering about those two. So do you have a plan, then?” I asked.
“Darby and I have talked, and I don’t really want to upset Mom. So we’re just going to do it. I’d kind of like to have twins. Can you get the dosage from Kanae or Aoi, so I can tell mother how much to use?”
I already knew what dosage they had used, so I reached into my storage and pulled out the dose for Selene.
“This is the dose they both used,” I said.
“Oh, thank you, Dee!” Selene said.
She sure was a weird one. I’m pretty sure most daughters would fight tooth and nail against letting their mother plan such an event.
“Mother wants us to stay here for the month to help prepare, but I think, she is hoping there will be an accident before the wedding. I’ll give her this medicine and tell her what it is, and how effective it is. Maybe she’ll relax a little then, if I let her know, We’re prepared to do what she wants,” Selene said.
In the morning, Nerise came up to me,
“I want to thank you, Queen Deirdre, for your assistance to my daughter. She gave my your medicine, which Selene has shared what its effects are. She says two of your party used them not knowing they had different effects on dragons and humans?”
“Yes, my friends partook of my prevention medicine, and all three wound up very much pregnant the next day. Did she mention what the dosage I gave her does?”
“She said she wants to have twins. That dose is enough for twins?” Nerise said.
“Indeed. That is not a promise she will also have twins. Not much research has been done on dosing and effects. It is a quite large dose, far more than you’ll find in texts and grimoires. Twins is probably the most one could expect,” I said.
With that concluded, the rest of our shrinking squad returned to Shin Shirochi. Aoi, had moved her household to the region I gave her, for her atelier. Kanae had been going around the entire realm to make an assessment of how our efforts had paid off in restoring the once abundance of fertile lands. Our combined efforts had restored farmland across the entire realm. Several border cities had been established, mostly to defend the farmland. Also, of course, to establish defensible borders. Aoi and I had made numerous artifacts to establish a large defensive shield around the entire nation. So these defensive cities were the gateways in and out of the realm.
“We need to investigate Crispenwell, even though they are the least likely culprit,” Kiera said.
“We are down two healers. Kanae you will have to come. We can bring the families if we go in force,” I said.
“I appreciate the offer, but I think I’d worry too much,” Kanae said.
“Alright, We’ll try to do it quickly then, but we’ll enter from the Empire,” I said.
“Sure is nice having a foothold in the Empire, but why from the empire. Crispenwell isn’t part of the Empire,” Kanae said.
“Yes, but they also haven’t taken lands from the Empire,” I said.
“Good point.”
We were off, and had entered Crispenwell by that afternoon. I had four dragonewts in dimensional space. By dusk, we had pulled out the newts to pull an older model carriage, and we pulled in to Áthfhirdú in the early evening, and checked in to an inn.
“Been a long haul. I hope there are some good jobs on the board in the morning,” I said as I ate, and drank my honey beer.
“As long as it’s strong enough for my hammer, I don’t care. Had nothing decent lately and my hammer is getting rather sad over smashing weaklings,” Rosie said, eating a large drumstick in one hand with a beer in the other.
“I don’t care as long as it pays well,” Fergus said.
We had many eyes watching us, pretending to not be watching. We continued to talk and eat like we were just a traveling guild, and then retired for the night.
“Was it just me, or were there an inordinate number of military present pretending to not be military?” Kiera said.
“It’s not just you. Something weird is going on here,” I said.
In the morning we checked the board, and took a few smaller jobs, as none of the larger jobs seemed something a guild like ours would normally consider.
“Slim pickings,” I said.
We then completed the quests and asked why the board was so empty of worthy quests. They just shrugged. We wandered around the city for a while, and then hit a pub.
“Doesn’t look promising. We’ll stay one more night, and see if it improves,” I said.
“Agreed,” Kiera said.
Again we retired.
“This city is crawling with military,” Kiera said.
“We’ll move on East or southeast tomorrow, after checking the board,” I said.
In the morning, the board was very much the same, so we headed out.
The next town was almost the same.
“Let’s head south, maybe there are better jobs to the south,” I said.
We visited four more towns.
“They’re prepping to invade. Let’s get out of here,” I said.
We were back in Shin Shirochi in hours. I sent a missive to the queen. I ordered my platoon to readiness. I activated a company of my dragonkin as aid to the Queen’s forces. We pulled half the forces the Queen had sent to the Fortress, and we rolled out to the border activating troops as we went.
“Fergus you’re in charge. I’m taking the Dragonkin across the border, and we’ll pincer them in. This is all former lands of Dargon anyway. Attack at dawn,” I said.
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I then led my dragonkin high up into the night sky, once the moons set. We came down from on high at dawn. It was the worst time for us to attack, but dragons weren’t affected by the morning light shining in our eyes. We had filtered eyelids. When we attacked they dropped all pretense and fought back. But it takes a very large army to deal with two hundred dragons, or dragonkin in full battle form. The army fled before the White Dragon Queen and her air force. In four hours it was all over, We had reclaimed the lost territory of Rimfen March. As we were retaking the lands We were also taking time to place artifacts to create a shield to keep anyone from entering what we had reclaimed. Then I met with the Marquise of Rimfen.
“Salutations, Marquise Shauna, I am Countess Deirdre the White Queen, Knight of the Queen’s Order, the Crispenwell occupied lands of your March have been reclaimed. A shield has been erected to keep out the Crispenwell army. The Queen’s regiments will be here in a few days to assist in re-establishing the old defenses. In the meantime our forces will defend our reclaimed lands. The Queen commands you to begin the process of re-establishing the border crossings. The Crispenwell army had been massing at, and near, the border in order to invade. Most of the captured prisoners have been released back to the Crispenwell Queendom. The leaders have been kept as prisoners until the Queen can decide on their fate. They are prisoners of war, not criminals,” I said.
“Greetings and salutations, Countess Deirdre, thank you for your intervention. I am sure your swift actions have saved the loss of many of our citizens, cities, farms, and merchants.”
After giving a full account of all that happened, I regrouped with the forces I left under Fergus.
“We have very few injuries and once your line of dragons was visible all the fighting spirit left them. Many had been conscripted and didn’t want to fight to begin with. Kanae and Aoi have returned to White City,” Fergus said.
“That’s wonderful, and I had expected they wouldn’t hang around. Shall we grab some grub and find a place to lodge for the night?” I said.
“Already reserved a room for us, and they seem to have a popular pub attached.”
We had a wonderful quiet evening together. In the morning, we had reports of the Crispenwell Army trying to break through the shields.
“Well, we really don’t want to keep having to fight them off, from this position. How do think we should handle this?” I asked the war council.
“There’s a natural barrier if we drive them back. We could drive forward to the River Tamarick. We could extend the shield down into the river itself. Only the bridges would be points necessary to defend constantly,” Fergus said.
“Perfect! What do you think? Is it doable?” I asked.
“It’s not traditionally part of the March, but they instigated all this to begin with. I say let’s do it.”
Three hours later we had expanded our territory, and Crispenwell was furious. But defending a few bridges was trivial. We captured a few profitable cities, or half cities in the process. In the end it deflated the conflict, because they feared losing even more land if they kept agitating us.
Seven days later two battalions arrived to combine with the existing battalion making a new brigade for the Marquise.
“It’s time we head for Marquise Ériu’s March for the celebration of her daughter’s birth,” I said.
We teleported Darby and Selene down for the celebration.
“It’s only been a little more than a month, but so much has happened since then,” I said.
“You do tend to over commit, my dear sister,” Ériu said.
“I would happily lounge around my palace given the opportunity,” I said.
“Ha! You’d be stir-crazy in three days, Little Queen,” Ériu said.
“I could, if things ever settled down,” I said.
“So says the fiend who flew around three realms for a little sex, and still wanted more,” Kiera said.
“That wasn’t … entirely, my fault,” I said, in my defense.
“True,” Kanae said.
“What beautiful children, Kanae. Yours also Aoi,” Ériu said.
“Thank you, Lady Ériu,” Kanae and Aoi said together.
“Please just Ériu. We have been through so much, and we are like sisters now, especially given our special connection with our children.”
“Alright, Ériu,” Kanae said.
“Thank you, Ériu,” Aoi said.
“But Dee, your children look like fairies. Such otherworldly beauty!” Kanae said.
“That is the truth, and the fact an elf thinks so, is further proof,” Ériu said.
“Thank you. To think we were just Academy students, and now we all have children, and Darby and Selene will be joining our club, next month,” I said.
“Oh, I hadn’t heard they plan on children already?” Ériu said.
“Selene’s mother is ordering her to take the fertility treatment and a bedding ceremony. Partly as punishment for getting married without even getting consent to get engaged. But, I think she’s just anxious for a grandchild. She was going to knowingly slip a potion into the Bedding ceremony. Selene has agreed to do her mother’s bidding here. But, I think a part of Selene wants it also. The three of them are really something else!” I said.
“Hello, we are right here,” Selene said, now a deep red in her cheeks, and still holding on tightly to Darby.
“Yes, Sweet Selene, you most certainly are,” I said, and chuckled.
“You are such a mean bully, Dee,” Selene said.
“Not at all, dear. I love you all deeply and dearly. You are all the World to me, and I love seeing you all happy,” I said.
“A toast! To Dee, the Incomparable Queen who has lifted us all to the heights and shown us the true power of love,” Fergus said.
“To Dee and the true power of love!”
We all downed our drinks.
“You give me too much credit, but thank you one and all for sharing your love with me,” I said.
“You don’t take enough credit, but that is also a part of your charm,” Kanae said.
Then the celebration began. I slipped back and faded into the shadows. I may have used a spell, or two, so I didn’t draw attention away from the stars of the party. It was a marvelous party.
“That’s quite a powerful confusion spell, you’ve got going there, Little Queen. Isn’t that what your friends affectionately call you?” said Archduke Setanna.
“Very little escapes your eyes and your ears, Archduke Setanna,” I said.
“I keep my eyes and ears on you at all time. Your like has never been seen before, and probably never will again. You are a force of nature. I can’t believe my little sister hasn’t tied you to our line. Yet. It seems everyone, and their cousin, are tying their strings to you by blood, and more. Thank you, for what you have done for my sister and our realm. I thought you the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, until I saw your children. They are precious beyond compare. You will be Empress soon. In fact, you could probably claim that title now,” Setanna said.
“I know,” I said.
“The thought doesn’t thrill you?” Setanna said.
“I want no part of it, but I cannot fight the Weavers and the Goddess, I will accept what I cannot change,” I said.
“That is why you are so beautiful. Your light is blinding. The one who was born of the Darkness. When the time comes, I will be there for you, my Empress. But do not hide yourself away for the whole party. Enjoy some interaction,” Setanna said and walked away.
Sigh
“How does he always do that?” I said to myself.
“I’ve never figured my uncle out, either, Dee,” Celes said, handing me a honey beer.
“I saw no Honey Beer being served?”
“Because it’s not being served. I served myself,” Celes said.
“So, how much of that did you hear?” I asked.
“Nothing I didn’t already know, my Empress” Celes said.
“Ugh,”
“You should marry my brother Alexander. You’re his idol and wet dream come true,” Celes said.
“Eww. I don’t want to hear that. Now it’ll be in my head, and I won’t be able to unsee it,” I said.
“Good. Let it stay there long enough, for you to want to sample it,” Celes said.
“Mean girl,” I said.
“I had a great tutor,” Celes said.
“What comes around, goes around,” I said.
“You don’t have any dragonkin brothers, but I accept, I’ll happily marry your son, when he’s of age,” Celes said.
I laughed.
“Sly,” I said.
“You’d really allow that,” Ceres said.
I pulled out a parchment and pen. I wrote out a contract of marriage between Finn and Celestine. I signed it.
“Sign it,” I said.
“Sign it?” Celes blinked. She read it, and signed it.
“Pour some mana into it,” I said, and she did. I poured some mana into it. The contract burned up, and two rolled parchments fell from the ashes.
“Congratulations, daughter. You are engaged to my son Finn. He may decide he won’t accept it. If he accepts and signs when he comes of age you are married to him. Ceremony or not. This is binding by the laws of dragons and dragonkin, and by treaty, the world. Neither you nor I can withdraw it now. Only Finn can break this contract,” I said.
“You really did it? You really did it! I’m engaged!”
“To a four-month-old dragonkin. He’ll reach maturity in five years, and adulthood in fifteen. Be careful he may try to mate you in a little more than four and a half years. If you let him, or he tricks you into it. It’s accomplished and sealed. So better be careful with your virtue, daughter,” I said, and then laughed.
“Four years? Dragonkin grow that fast?” Celes said.
“Dragons do also. I was mature at seven, but that was only due to my environment. It took me a little longer, because I was struggling.”
“What will he be like at five?”
“Very horny, probably,” I said.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“You set me up!”
“Yes. Yes, I did. Quite successfully, I might add. It’s Mithril clad.”
Celes laughed so hard she doubled over.
“Don’t be surprised if I let him seduce me in five years,” Celes said.
“I’m counting on it. I’ll even bring the Cupidita Leaf,” I said.
“You wouldn’t! Oh, you would! You so would! Oh, my Goddess!”
“Yes, Let’s toast it, shall we,” I smiled.
“Huzzah!” Celes smashed her mug against mine and we downed our drink.
The party wound down, and we all went to our respective homes.
Three days later, the Queen summoned me.
“Salutations, my Queen. I hope you are well,” I said.
“My daughter is engaged to your son Finn.”
“Yes, she is.”
“You tricked her into agreeing to an arranged marriage, without consulting me?”
“I didn’t trick her into anything. She suggested it. She’s of full age, is she not? I merely accepted her desire.”
“I may have fed her the rope, but she tied all the knots.”
Matilde laughed!
“No one has gotten the better of her since her uncle Setanna when she was five,” Matilde said.
“She doesn’t seem displeased with the arrangement. Only Finn can break the contract, but at five when he reaches physical maturity, he might not think it over fully. I’ll make sure he has a proper dose of Cupidita leaf, as I discussed with Celestine,” I said.
Matilde doubled over.
“Well, it is said, do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons and Wizards. So five years? Wonderful. In exchange, you’ll marry my son Alexander,” Matilde said.
“Perhaps. He may visit me in the palace anytime I am home. He may come and watch me nurse again if he desires. My children like him,”
“Oh, has he watched you nursing your children? Did he enjoy that?”
“More than he’d want to admit, even as he tried to resist, and failed,” I said.
“That was just recently, was it?” Matilde asked.
“When he visited to inspect the Fortress,” I said.
“Oh, well that explains it. Yes, now I understand,” Matilde said.
“Did something happen?” I asked.
“Nothing of importance, but he seemed more mature, and more … attentive, or perhaps more awake is a better term,” Matilde said, grinning.
“I see,” I said, grinning.
“I do want to thank you for preventing that invasion. There will be rewards in the near future for that. They are none too happy you took some of their lands in the process,” Matilde said.
“It was their own fault. It makes the rest of your territory more defensible. I do hope you are wise enough to keep it,” I said.
“It was a brilliant strategy.”
“It was Fergus’ idea. He has a very keen mind,” I said.
“Indeed, he does. Thank you again for your dedication. You have been a Goddess send to this realm,” Matilde said.
“You are a good queen. It has been an honor to serve you, my Queen,” I said.
“I am glad, and honored to know that,” Matilde said.