Legon Ascension (4 page)

Barnin resumed his briefing. “Thank you for that waste of time. We’re going to be hitting small targets, nothing large. They shouldn’t be protected, or if they are it will be light. We’re not going to be taking anything; just hit em, kill em, and burn the supplies. We need to move fast hitting as much as we can before the Empire gets wise and sends out help.” The men looked confused.
 

“I know you have questions, and I know what you’re thinking—the Empire will just consolidate its supply routes and our little adventure will be done. I know, and I agree, but at least in this case I think that Telunone has something he’s planning. I would also bet a month’s worth of pay that Legon, Sasha and Sydin have something to do with it too, so stay sharp.”

With that, Barnin walked out of the room. They would wait for night before leaving. He heard heavy foot-steps behind him. Barnin turned to Ankle, who was at a slight jog.

“What?” Barnin asked.

“Where you heading?” Ankle asked.

“Blacksmith. I have my sword in getting worked on. It’s pretty dinged up right now.”

Ankle shook his head and spoke. “Sir, why don’t you get a new sword? That one is older than you, and you got it at training.”

Barnin huffed. “I know that, but it fits me, so what do you actually want?”

“What do you want me to do about the new guys? This is the most we’ve had and I
 

don’t want to get killed tonight when they mess up, ya know what I mean?”

Barnin thought about it. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. We’re not going into anything all that bad for the next few days. They should be alright.” He hoped.

“Ok.”

With that, Ankle left him to his thoughts. That was one of the things he liked about Ankle—when you earned his trust you had it. There was no need to continue proving yourself. If Barnin said he didn’t think it was going to be bad then that was fine with Ankle.

* * * * *

Legon walked across the large chamber that held the dragon hangers. Everything looked like it always did, running smoothly, and other than the new banners there was no sign that the dome had changed hands. He loved the consistency among his people. There also weren’t any petty disputes or houses jockeying for position. Everyone played their role. This wasn’t due to some supernatural goodness built into the Elves, no, it was the result of thousands of years of experience. Long lives and memories made life less complicated. Society didn’t need to learn from its mistakes every generation. Legon was almost to Sydin’s hanger, which looked empty. Most of his things were already on their way back to his house in the capital city of Seeon. Iselin wouldn’t be sailing with them, but she was going to meet them there when they arrived. Thinking about her gave Legon a weird sensation in his gut.
Cut that out. Don’t get all hopeful.
She probably just said yes to be polite to you,
he chided himself.

“No, she likes you,” Sasha’s voice rang in his head.

“You’re not supposed to pay attention to things like that, cut it out.”
 

“Can you sense it when I roll my eyes at your stupidity, or is that something you need to be here for?” Sasha asked.

Legon ignored her as he was at Sydin’s hanger, with its high brown ceilings curving above his head and lines of little lights on the top glowing down at the floor. The hanger was all but empty—just one large smooth floor. He didn’t want to think about Iselin right now. He wanted Ise to like him, but he also didn’t want to get swept away in daydreams that if he wasn’t careful Sasha would see… again… or infinitely worse, if Ise joined his mind and she saw them! No, it was better for him not to think that he had a chance with her. Oddly, thinking this helped keep his nerves in line.

“Legon, what can I do for you?” Sydin said, coming out of a storage room built into the wall of the hanger.

“Hello Sydin, if I can, I would like your opinion on something,” Legon said.

“Shoot.”

Legon took a moment to organize his thoughts. “Ok, Arkin has been in the Empire for some time now and has never been detected. He has contacts and assets there as well. I was thinking that he would be perfect for heading a large-scale intelligence agency in the Empire.”

Sydin looked thoughtful. “An intelligence agency?”

Legon explained. “Yes, an organization whose sole purpose is covert operations. We have spies and the human resistance has a few small organizations, but nothing like what I’m thinking.”

“Ok, I’m listening,” Sydin said.

“Alright, what if Arkin was able to put together a group of highly trained spies and assassins, many of whom should be Venefica, and give them ranks and the whole bit. Now, if they are all humans, they can infiltrate all parts of the Empire. Think of the information we could get, along with always having people on the inside should we need to do anything. If we are to sow discord in the Empire, we will need a way of doing it. This group could be that tool.”

Sydin rubbed his chin. “It’s a good idea. Like you said, these organizations already exist, but from the sound of it, you want something more. Most spy networks today answer to some lord or commander and don’t have more than five or six people max, most fairly untrained and more disposable, if you will. If you had a wider network and they were as trained as Arkin, then that could be of use. Who would this organization answer to?”

“House Evindass, of course, and they would have our resources at their disposal. It’s a model that will work; look at how effective Arkin was with Sasha and me.”

Sydin spoke. “He did do well. So how big do you think this organization will end up being?”

“Large, but that’s what I’m not sure about. We have resources, but the spies will need to be able to get a lot of things on their own. I mean, can you imagine smuggling supplies in to Bailaya?” Legon said.

“No, you’re right, that would be a bad idea. Maybe they could set up businesses as fronts. Arkin did that as a cover in Salmont and it was also effective. Legon, I’m sorry I don’t know more about this, but espionage is relatively new. Iumenta and Elves have always used magic. We look so different, there’s no hiding in plain sight. But as far as humans go, they’ve only truly needed it for about fifty years, and even then they’ve only started to actively spy in the last ten.”

“I know,” Legon said. Sydin thought it was a good idea, but how were they going to do it? Like Sydin said, this was new, or at least it was new on a large scale. In the War of Generations Elves and Iumenta crossed enemy lines, but they didn’t become part of the enemy society. As far as Arkin went, he had a small network for relaying messages and keeping an eye out. Most of his contacts were those loyal to the resistance. It wasn’t all that organized, just a haphazard collection of people to create a link. Assassins weren’t all that new either, but once again, never living in society. The problem wasn’t that the Elves couldn’t figure this out, but more that they never had a reason to. The downfall of being around for thousands of years was that you didn’t do anything new. Legon knew this was where he would need to live, not in the old established tactics but in coming up with strategies the filth or Elves hadn’t seen—things a Human would come up with.

“Talk to Arkin. He has more real-world experience with this than possibly anyone in history,” Sydin suggested.
 

“I will. Besides, if he’s going to be heading this thing up he should have a role in deciding how it works.”

* * * * *

Arkin made his way up the side of the dome. It felt good to be moving around again. The medical staff wasn’t letting him up much. He didn’t even get hurt all that badly in his opinion. It was dusk now, and the nighttime flowers that bloomed on the dome were all opening up before his eyes. The side of the structure was painted in whites, reds and blues, along with a half dozen other colors. As the flowers’ fragrances mixed, the air smelled sweet and soft. The sky matched this as well with the clouds a pink that was almost orange, mixed with swirls of purple-black and midnight blue. The mountains were just a black silhouette on the horizon, the jagged Cornis peaks cutting the sky like knives and daggers. Separating the soft clouds and tattered mountains was a line of the purest periwinkle blue that was darkening. Soon the faint lights of stars would be seen.
 

It was dark when he broke the top of the dome. A giant emerald dragon burst from the opening, its scales refracting the pillar of light emanating from the inside of the brightly lit structure and contrasting sharply with the darkened sky above. The dissimilarity of the dark sky, the vibrating dome and dragon never failed to amaze Arkin. He had a hard time thinking of anything more beautiful than a sparkling dragon leaving the soft green dome, and conversely there was nothing that inspired more respect for the danger and power in both the dome and dragon. Like everything about this enchanting race, Elves were a careful balance of grace and death, ease and precision. Arkin thought about this as he made his way into the depths of the dome and down to Sasha and Legon’s apartment.
 

“Come in,” came Sasha’s muffled voice after he knocked on the door.

Arkin entered. “Hello Sasha, how are you today? Are you looking forward to leaving soon?”

Sasha smiled at him but it didn’t touch her eyes, she didn’t want to leave her friends behind, and Arkin suspected that the dome was beginning to feel like home to her. “Yes and no. I’ve never seen the ocean before and Sydin said that Iselin and himself will be flying us to Manton.”

Arkin chuckled. “Scared of heights?”
 

Sasha winced. “No, just falling from them.”

Legon spoke. “You’re not going to fall Sash. Honestly, do you think Sydin would drop you? And even if he did, it’s not like you couldn’t be stopped with magic. Heck, you could even keep yourself from getting hurt,” Legon said with a little agitation. It was obvious Sasha had been worrying about this for a little while.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, I’m so comforted now, thank you brother. Maybe they can catch me in their mouths,” she said tartly.

It was good to see them back to normal. “I’m sure you taste great Sash. I’ll tell Sydin,” Legon said.

Sasha looked at him and smiled genuinely this time and stuck her tongue out. “You guys are something else,” Arkin said.

They were both serious now as Legon spoke. “Arkin, we have asked you here tonight because we need your help with something.”

“Of course.”

He listened as Legon outlined what he wanted to do. Arkin gave his views on the matter and how he thought it would best work, and indeed he did think it would work rather well. Lists of things ran through Arkin’s head as he tried to figure out what he needed to do to pull this together. The concept was straightforward enough, provided the filth weren’t planning the same thing. Even if they were, that was just one more thing Arkin would gladly take out. When they were done he was feeling even better. It was good to have direction again in life, and soon he would be back on his way.

Sasha poured them some tea. “Will you stay awhile? I don’t think we will be seeing you again for some time.”

“Certainly dear. So, what are you going to be doing while Legon is on his date?” Arkin said, winking to Legon.

Legon fidgeted. He was nervous, and he should be. Sasha looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think that Sydin is going to take me around town.”

“That will be fun. He does like you, doesn’t he?”

She smiled. “Yes, he does, and he says he can’t wait for his wife to meet me. She’s seen me in his head and agrees that I’m just like their daughter. And since his daughter doesn’t live in Seeon anymore, I think I’m her replacement.”

“He loves that girl to death. He wouldn’t let her move out of the city for three hundred years, drove her husband nuts.”

They all laughed and Legon spoke. “I bet that did, but I don’t blame him, you’re never moving away Sash.”

She rolled her eyes again. “I know I’m stuck with you… I like Ise though, so it won’t be bad.”

Legon snorted. “Sash we haven’t even gone on a date yet. Don’t start planning the wedding, ok?”

“What? I have a good feeling,” she said, rubbing her temples.

“You’ve had good feelings about everyone I’ve gone out with,” Legon pointed out.

She thought, “Not everyone. Well, if it doesn’t work out there’s…”

“Not Sara!”

It was amusing seeing them give each other a hard time again. Arkin knew they were happiest this way, but at the same time he was sad. What would happen to Sasha in the Pawdin Empire? They would see what a truly virtuous person she was and of course they would adore her, but would she end up alone for the rest of her life? Elves almost never picked humans, and why would they? Why fall in love with someone just to have them torn away from you after sixty or seventy years? Yes, when you lived for millennia you needed to be careful with whom you gave your heart to. Eventfully it would be hard for Legon too, because someday, even with all the Elves’ power, Sasha would pass away. Would Legon survive that? The connection between them was already strong and decades from now how powerful would it be? It didn’t matter now, anyway. That was unavoidable and hopefully far in the future, so Arkin contented himself listening to the playfully bickering.

* * * * *

The blackened landscape rushed by as Barnin rode across the plains that separated the two principle powers in Airmelia. There was the sound of a dragon flying in the distance, but it was behind them, so Barnin knew it was an Elf. There was an almost tangible shift in the air when they crossed the border. A subtle but steady stream of mental nudges assaulted his mind. The nudges, like so many fiery darts, sank their way into his consciousness, making him uneasy. The Iumenta Dragons influenced the people in the area a lot, and Barnin could feel it. The air seemed crisp as they road, but he knew that it was also only in his head. He hissed an order back to his men, telling them to guard their minds. Barnin did the same himself and the feeling of unease settled a bit. He tucked his head under his arm and looked at Josher, away from the Elvin Dragon’s influence. He wasn’t so cocky; his face was drained of all color, as were the other new guy’s.