They spent time learning all they could about me and the state of my empire, such as it was. In the end, the price was extremely high. Higher than I had imagined, but I should have been able to predict it. We formed a new peace treaty with the Darklings. There was an ancient treaty between the Darklings and the White Dragons. The Darklings had been a Protectorate of the White Dragon Empire. The new treaty granted them all the protection and rights as under the old treaty. But they were now fully independent. The price of protecting them was the Gáe Bulga would be possessed by me, if the spear accepted me. It would return to the Darklings, unless one of my direct line was found worthy.
Additionally, I was to marry one from the line of their ruling council. I was to mate in a bedding ceremony, and produce an heir at that time. A thing they knew I could do, from what they had learned of me. One of my heirs of either a dragon, or a darkling was to move to the Darkling realm and marry and produce heirs. One of every third generation of my direct line would also go the Darklings and marry and produce heirs. That arrangement could be broken by mutual agreement, or returning the Gáe Bulga.
It was a very one-sided agreement. So, this is how I was married, and mated, to Drazhulkhan, third son of Drazulina, Grand Matriarch of the Council of the Firbulgan Nation. Darkling mating customs are truly strange. I was given three days to pick five prospective husbands. Naturally, this normally was a much more drawn out process. But, I knew I’d have an idea of whether I could accept, and get along, with one of them within a few days, and I didn’t want to spend a long time courting the inevitable. Then the wedding and bedding ceremony was basically one event. I was thrown into a ring with all five of them, and we had an all out battle with me fending them off and each of them trying to wrestle me into a mating position. We fought on the ground and in the air. Some got their wings torn and had to use magik to stay in the battle.
I naturally wanted to see what would happen if I kept them from mating to me. They were fighting each other for a chance to get close to me. Several tried to latch on to me. After about ten minutes three of them had been too wounded to continue, and Drazhulkhan tricked his last competition, Dharzhon, into trying to latch on to me from the front with a brilliant feint, only to slip into my blind spot when I twisted to throw Dharzhon off. He latched on to my leg and used my twisting motion to gain position to latch on to my other leg, and drove forward and into me.
Of course, when he drove into me, his rod was locked inside of me, and mating was really our only option at that point. I don’t know if the Darklings knew that bit of Dragon anatomy. He then latched onto both of my shoulders. We crashed into the ground, knocking Dharzhon out, and Drazhulkhan proceeded to pound me. I could have knocked him out and maybe gotten free that way, if he lost his erection. But, he had brilliantly outmaneuvered me, in getting inside me. So I chose to let him mate me. I would be on top in our rematch.
Then we left Dún Kíl Tearéd, Mount Tearéd Acropolis, the last Fortress of the Darklings. We left with the Gáe Bulga, my new Darkling mate and husband, Drazhulkhan, thirteen Darkling Guards, my knights, three Darkling egg-nurses, and my two Half-Darkling eggs of white with Darkling patterns. We had mated in my Battle form, and thus I produced eggs. Drazhulkhan was barely fifteen years old. I could predict what was going to happen next, without the benefit of my draconic powers.
We arrived back at Shin Shirochi to a very surprised audience. Drazhulkhan wanted to fly the whole distance back. Having been cooped up in basically a self-imposed prison. All of the Darklings wanted to see what the world looked like today. Of course, we weren’t flying over entirely bare lands. We flew over farmland, and towns and villages, and a few cities. By the time we reached our cities the news of the sightings of dragons and darklings had spread across the land, and when we flew through the dragon gate into Shin Shirochi, the streets were packed with the curious. There were not a few eyes that didn’t miss I was carrying two eggs.
I went straight to our nursery and deposited my eggs on my nest. Aoi and Kanae left to see their babies. I felt really awful for having had to separate them for this much too long expedition. My babies all came flying at me almost before I settled on my nest.
“Momma’s home! We missed you Momma! You were gone too long Momma!”
“I missed you all so much my babies!” I said.
“Ladies, please introduce yourselves to the rest of the nursery staff,” I said to my new egg nurses.
“Drazhulkhan, you won’t need more than two guards in the Palace, but if you wish to keep more with you that is fine. Any guards you will not be keeping by your side can go with my knights and get their quarters figured out.”
“Thank you, my Empress. You are all dismissed. Go get settled.”
A few minutes later, Alexander came running in. When he saw me all the stress in his face faded away.
“I was so worried! You’ve been gone for so long,” Alex said, as he approached.
Then Alex finally noticed Drazhulkhan, and he jumped back,
“Darkling!”
We prefer Firbulga, Drazhulkhan said.
“Firbulga?” Alex said questioningly, and looked at me.
“It is what the call themselves, like you call yourselves humans, and we of dragonkind call ourselves, what we call ourselves,” I said.
“You don’t call yourselves dragons?” Alex asked.
“They do not reveal the name they call themselves,” Drazhulkhan said.
“You don’t? Why not?” Alex asked.
“Names are power, and our names are powerful. Besides, humans couldn’t pronounce it anyway,” I said.
“Why are you in your battle form?” Alex asked.
“I am nursing my eggs with my husband, Drazhulkhan. Drazhulkhan, this is my fiancé, Alexander Mac Matilde, second prince of Matilde Queen of the Dargon Nation. I manage lands in her Queendom as a countess,” I said.
“Salutations, Alexander Mac Matilde, honored human fiancé of my wife, it is an honor and pleasure to meet you,” Drazhulkhan said.
“Eggs? Husband?” Alex repeated, and paused. Then he snapped out of it, and said,
“Oh! Sorry, Greetings and salutations Drazalcaan noble and magnificent son of the Firbulga. It’s a pleasure and honor to meet you.”
“My Queen, when did you marry a Darkling? I thought they were extinct? I don’t remember you nursing any eggs before?”
“I married Drazhulkhan, two days ago, and I am nesting the eggs he fertilized then. A lot has happened, and it will all be revealed soon,” I said.
Alexander was too stunned to talk. Which was good, because Kiera came in and said,
“Dee, there are some messengers with news of some activity in the reclaimed lands.”
“So, it has happened. I thought we’d have longer. Someone must have stirred them up. Bring them to the Council Chamber, and summon the Council and officers,” I said.
When we reached the Chamber, the messengers were already there.
“Salutations. Who are you and, from where are you bringing news?” I asked.
“Greetings and Salutations, your majesty. I am Aralt, and this is Malachi. We come by order of Marquise Shauna.”
As the room filled up, I prepared a map of Rimfen on the table, and some props.
“Aralt tell us of your news,” I said.
“There has been increasing unrest in the region around Caerwen Crossing. There have been several attacks made against the Queen’s and Marquise’s agents,” Aralt said.
“What of your report Malachi?”
“It is as Aralt reports in the area around Lughás Dalcath also,” Malachi reported.
“What other towns and cities have been reporting such issues?”
“There are at least seven other cities and large towns, my Lady,” Aralt said.
“Show us on the map, all the large and small pockets of disturbances,” I said.
Once that was done, Aralt said,
“This was the state of things as of a few days ago.”
“This is too much and too organized for it to have spawned this fast naturally. Crispenwell has agents in place,” I said.
“Why would they do this? Have they already forgotten how decisively we recaptured these lands?”
“No, they haven’t. That’s the point. They’re afraid, and Crispenwell is using that fear to motivate everyone to rise up against the cruel, ravaging, bloodthirsty dragon queen,” I said.
“Then what do we do to settle this?” Darby asked.
“We change the story. We tell the story that no lie can destroy,” I said.
“There is no story that a lie can’t destroy,” Rosie said.
“There is. No lie can destroy true and honest love,” I said.
“True Love? How are you going to tell a story of true love to crowds of angry people?” Kanae said.
“More importantly, lies often cause loving relationships to fall apart. How is a story of true love going to win over people who have already accepted the lies?” Kiera asked.
“Have you never heard? Love conquers all,” I said.
“Pft! Fairy tales. How will you tell a story of true love to angry, closed hearts?” Knight Commander Rhiannon said.
“We have to open their hearts, quell their anger, and reveal the truth,” I said.
“How?” Fergus asked.
“I don’t know, yet,” I said.
“That’s going to be impossible. How will you do it if you don’t have a plan?” Rhiannon asked.
“I didn’t say I don’t have a plan. I know it will be hard,” I said.
“Well, then what is this glorious plan?” Aoi asked.
“I will have to travel to each town, with a minimal force, and figure out what the locals want the most. Fear only motivates to a point. All these places want something. Fear alone wouldn’t be enough reason to rebel. All these towns and cities are hurting from something. Hurting from something the previous lords caused. High taxes, corruption, cruelty, or who knows what other reasons they may have. It will be a slow, and tedious undertaking. I will be taking my children, and the Gáe Bulga, with me,” I said.
“You cannot take your children with you! It is too much of a risk! Why would you be taking a weapon of untold power on a trip to tell a story of true love?” Rhiannon asked.
“I can, and will, take my children with me. We have been separated too much as it is. It is not up for discussion. Only a hero, true of heart, may wield the Gáe Bulga. Is that not the legend?” I asked.
“Then you are going to tell these crowds and the world that you are the hero?” Kanae said?
“This is everything you don’t want, my love! Are you sure?” Fergus said.
“I am rarely sure these days. There was a time, I was so sure. Of everything. Then you all poured out your love on me, and I awoke from the sleep of lies I’d woven for myself. I will do what I must. Without regret,” I said.
“It’s a crazy plan. Small chance of success. I love it!” Rosie said.
“Ever the optimist, Rosie,” I said, and almost everyone laughed. Rhiannon scowled, I knew she hated the plan.
So with that decided, my retinue was selected. Then with the aid of Queen Matilde, teams of spies were dispatched to the nine towns and cities we knew were actively being provoked. Aoi had completed her floating island prototype, and so we moved my nest and household to the floating island and named it Codladh Bánríagan, Queen’s Nursery.
Two dragon guards were left in Shin Shirochi, and the rest of my guard were attached to the island. Some standing guard, and some flew above the island, and other’s all around the island at different altitudes.
It was quite an intimidating sight.
We were off. I flew, with my guards, just above my nest. The rest of my retinue flew in our floating carriages. There was no reason to follow the roads. No reason to hide ability of the carriages. Our flying carriages hadn’t been widely known to exist. It was mostly rumor and urban legend material. We flew straight to the capital of Rimfen, Dubhdun, to meet with the Marquise. We could hear the bells ringing from far off.
Not the bells calling out the time, but the warning bells of alarm. They continued on as we approached, until they finally saw flags of Dargon and the white realm flying on the island and the lead carriage. The carriages landed and approached the gates. The Nursery remained out of range of the castle weapons. I flew down with a minimal guard,
“I am Deirdre, Queen of the White realm and Knight of the Royal Guard of Dargon. I, and my House, seek permission to enter the city to meet with Marquise Shauna,” I said, floating before the guards above the gates.
“The Marquise, is expecting you. You and your house may enter,” replied the captain of the guard.
My guards and I landed in the palace grounds of the Marquise. We were escorted to the Marquise’s Library, and waited on the rest of our party to arrive.
“Salutations, Queen Deirdre, you certainly know how to make an entrance!” Shauna said.
“Ah, yes. I brought my Nursery with my children. A floating island. The creation of my dear friend and companion, Aoi. She is a truly gifted alchemist! She is obsessed with flight and flying things,” I said.
“So, you have come to help restore order? You did not bring a very large force, Lady Deirdre,” Shauna said.
“I am here to bring peace, not restore order. I expect this may take a while. Perhaps all summer. We will listen, and we will reveal the truth. We will make them understand things will be better with us,” I said.
“That will not be easy. Can you do it?” Shauna asked.
“I don’t know. I want to believe I can. I want to believe I am more than just a weapon of destruction,” I said.
“How can we help?” Shauna asked.
“We need to be able to find the corruption, and get rid of it. Do you have any people you want to come with us?” I said.
“I do have some officials who should go with you,” Shauna said.
“We will need to be able to follow the money trails. So anything you can do there will be helpful, Lady Shauna,” I said.
“Consider it done, Lady Deirdre,” Shauna said.
Shauna put together her team, and provided us with access to whatever records we’d need, and her spies. A few days later we were off for Caerwen Crossing, a small but crucial commercial hub for farmers and merchants. Again the warning bells were our greeting. They had never seen a floating island, and only recently had seen dragons in the sky for the first time. Although, that would all be true for most of the human world. Dragons were creatures of legend. Nightmares to scare children into behaving, or for scary stories around the hearth fire. Now, a white dragon queen had descended, and walked among them.
“I am Deidre, representative of Queen Matilde, I am here to meet with your Council of Thirteen,” I said to the guard, at the city gate.
“I am Connobher, the council master of Caerwen Crossing,” Connobher said.
“We are here to discuss your grievances, and why you are turning away the Queen’s officers. We would like to meet with your full council,” I said.
“The Council is not scheduled to meet until two weeks from yesterday. You just missed the Council meeting, Lady Deirdre,” Connobher said.
“Then call a special Council meeting, Sir Connobher,” I said.
“A special council can only be called with a three-week notice,” Connobher said.
“Then call an emergency council. Or are you going to pretend that an imminent emergency in which the city would be destroyed in less than a day requires some kind of notice?”
“It is as they say. You come not to listen, but to order. A meeting devoid of citizens, in the dark of a closed Council,” Connobher said.
“I did not say it was to be a closed Council. Invite the citizens as well,” I said.
“A council without any notice to the citizens is no real Council,” Connobher said.
“Then send out your notice that the Council will meet in three days, and convene the Council three days hence. Since as you say, you held a council yesterday, with just three days notice from your regular council four days ago. Or was your council yesterday not a real council?” I said.
Connobher looked shocked, but said nothing. Knowing he was cornered, he caved,
“Very well, the Council will be called in three days and the citizens notified. Do you have more for me?”
“Yes, I need access to your City’s financial records. By order of the Queen,” I said, and presented him with the Queen’s order.
He then arranged a time for me to meet him in the City office, and we parted. I then walked to the City’s Central plaza. I awoke the Gáe Bulga, and a lightning Bolt shot high into the sky. A crowd turned and stared at the spear. A crowd of even more came bursting into the plaza, and still the spear was spitting out lightning. Then, when the plaza was packed, I spoke in an amplified voice,
“I am Deirdre Ní Qin. I have retrieved the Gáe Bulga from the hand of the dead hero. I am the Hero of Eå, unless any among you think you can make the Gáe Bulga answer to you.”
I let go of the Spear and stepped back. The spear buried itself in the judgment stone at the fountain, and the lightning ended. I turned and walked away. The spear lit up, and the shield reformed that it had when I claimed it.
“Aren’t you worried someone will try to steal that, Dee?” Aoi asked me.
“Who could steal that? I have nothing to worry about,” I said.
“Right, all those Darklings that have tried for over two thousands years,” Aoi said.
“Painting yet another target on your back?” Kanae asked.
“Be careful, you are possibly more talented and closely connected to be the hero than I am. You could have possibly pulled it from the former hero more easily than me,” I said.
“The Hero was All Affinities, like you, and had black hair, like you. She came from another world,” I said.
“What!?”
“Yeah, legends say she claimed to have come from, uhh, Nihon, I think it was,” I said.
“Nihon!” Kanae said her eyes wide open in shock.
“I come from Nihon,” Kanae whispered.
“I have long suspected that. You look a lot like drawings of the Hero. You look like you could be sisters,” I said.
“Maybe I should try grabbing the Spear. If I look that much like the hero, they might spread tales I am the Hero reborn?” Kanae said.
“That might be why I was told to get the spear. She didn’t say I needed to wield it. Maybe you are meant to wield it, and get the people to follow you,” I said.
So three days later the Council met, and the citizens showed up. Near the back of the room in the middle of some very angry looking citizens was a man in a grey cloak. He had a very forgettable face, of an average build, and eyes as cold as black ice. There was the man I needed to defeat.
“Well, Lady Deirdre, here we are. The Council has been called on your demand. What are we to discuss?” Connobher asked.
“There have been stirrings of discontent among the liberated towns and lands of the March of Rimfen, taken eighty-three years ago by the stealthy, and cowardly attack of the Crispenwell Nation. The queen is perplexed why there is discontent. We also note the Queen’s notice of liberation is not posted in the town square, the church door, the court of assizes gate, nor on any of the boards at any of the Inns or guilds in town. Was the Queen’s Notice even proclaimed in the town?”
“The Queen’s sent no notice of liberation! Only a tax notice!” came a voice from the crowd.
“Why have you turned away all of the Queen’s representatives before me?”
“The Queen ain’t sent no representatives,” spoke another angry voice in the crowd.
“I ask the Council, why have you turned away the Queen’s representatives?”
“We have turned away no representatives?” Connobher said.
“Why have you not sent your Summer tariffs to the Queen?”
“Why are you bleeding the people dry?” came a voice from the back.
“We have asked for less than you were taxed by Crispenwell. If we are taxing you dry, then you were taxed even worse by Crispenwell,” I said.
“Lies!” shouted many of the angry voices.
I reached in to my pocket, and pulled out a glowing white stone,
“A Truth stone!”
Silence fell on the crowd. I placed the stone on the Council table.
“Why have you raised the tariffs and pocketed the money? Why have you been charging a false tariff from the people? Why did you not read and post the Queen’s Notice of Liberation? Why did you turn away the Queen’s Representatives?” I asked the Council.
“We have done no such things that you accuse us of!” Answered nine of the Council members.
“Four of you have not answered my questions? Why?” I asked.
Everyone looked at them, including the other nine Council members.
“Connobher you have not answered. Yet you answered some of those questions earlier?”
“My answer has not changed.” Connobher said.
Many in the crowd shook their head in agreement.
“But was your answer the truth?” I asked.
Silence.
“Were your previous answers, lies?” I asked.
Silence.
“Sheriff, if you will,” I said.
The Sheriff brought forward a bound person. When the four council members saw, they turned to flee.
“Bind!”
“This clerk of the assizes has confessed that he has worked with the four now bound Council members to defraud and steal from the town and its citizens. Everything that spy back there has been telling you is a fiction,” The Sheriff said, as his deputies grabbed and bound him.
“The Queen’s Notice of Liberation, which tells of the reduced tariff was found in the Council of Thirteen’s safe.”
The Sheriff then read the Queen’s Notice, and gave it to a deputy to post on the Council door.
“With the assistance of Lady Deirdre, your overpayment of the tariff from the start of the year has been calculated, and we have set up tables, over there where you can collect them, and go home. Tell your friends and neighbors to come to the Sheriff’s office and collect their due refunds,” the Sheriff continued.
“Thank you Sheriff,” I said.
“Thank you, Lady Deirdre, for revealing their crimes and their lies,” the Sheriff said.
I grabbed the stone and walked out into the square. I went up to the Spear, and stood there. I waited for the crowd to collect their money, and file out of the chamber. They all collected, and exited, looking at me and the spear. Everyone had tried to grab the spear. Kanae approached from beyond the square, dressed in a strange outfit I’d made her the night before.
“The hero has returned?” an old woman almost whispered. Faces turned toward where the old woman was staring. Whispering spread through the crowd, and they parted to let her through. She walked up to the spear and pulled it free of the stone, and it shot a bolt of lightning into the sky inside a bead of blue light.
“The Hero has returned,” a voice shouted, and the crowd took up the chant. When it quietened, Kanae turned to me and knelt. She placed her left hand on her chest, and said,
“Command me, My Queen!”
“Let us bring peace to this world, together!” I said and extended my hand.
She grabbed my hand and stood. I pulled her into an embrace and let her go.
I turned to the crowd and said,
“You have been liberated from an abusive regime. Be true to the Queen and family who have ever loved you. May your fields be abundantly fruitful, your lives happy, your family healthy, and may you all live in peace and harmony. May the Goddess bless you all as you deserve,” I said.
“May the Goddess bless you also,” the crowd replied.
We walked back to our caravan.
“One town restored, eight, or more, to go.”