Legon Restoration (37 page)

"We have to control the north," Legon said, "if we don't the Impa will be able to keep the Capital supplied and move troops in."

"What is our plan to retake the north Un Prosa?" the Captain asked.

"We are sending many Ascended to the area, some like Iselin and I will be Carrier based but still more will be land based, we need to make a hard push inland."
 

Legon continued to outline the strategy that he and the other houses had agreed on before returning to his hanger with Iselin. In the morning they would be flying their first sortie in the north.
I wonder if my friend will be here
he thought, thinking of the green class eight.

* * * * *

Umbra scanned the land as she flew. It was light out, which would normally be a bit of a liability for a dragon that stayed alive based on her ability to fade into darkness, but today she wasn't looking for Iumenta. She, like the rest of the Pawdin military, knew where the Iumenta were. No, today she was looking for groups of refugees from the eastern lands. The area was thick forest making it hard to see the ground and Umbra found herself staying low as she and her squad flew in a zig zag, scanning with all their senses.
 

The mission was a consequence of the Iumenta's scorch earth policy. From what the Elves and resistance had been told by survivors, the Iumenta would move into an area fast destroying what they could and then leaving. Still, the majority of townspeople were being wiped out, but those that hid or fled prior to the Iumenta's arrival found that they could survive. Refugee camps had been overwhelmed with people seeking any type of help they could get, but within the last week the hordes of people had stopped almost all together.
 

Festina contacted her. "Are you seeing anybody?" he asked.

"No I'm not," then to the rest of her squad, "Has anybody seen any signs of people?"
 

"I found a town, but from what I can tell its empty, not even burned," Festina said.

Umbra could see the town in his mind, ordering him to drop lower and take a closer look. "If people are leaving we will see tracks," she said.

She changed course to head toward the town, ordering her squad to do likewise. She flew overhead looking down at the town. Nothing was out of place, except that there were no people. Umbra felt a shiver run down her spine. Ground forces hadn't cleared the area yet and she was under orders to not go on the ground.
 

"Boss we have our orders..." one of her squad said.

"I know, but we have to get on the ground, we just can't see with all the trees," Umbra said landing in the town’s center.
 

She walked around town trying not to run into any of the buildings or break anything with her tail.
 

"What's it looking like?" Festina asked.

"Well..." she said taking in a large set of tracks heading into the woods, "it looks like everyone or nearly everyone left, but it doesn't look like there was a struggle of any kind." She sniffed the air at the edge of the woods, "Something isn't right here..."

She took her Elf form, cursing that the last thing she wore was a dress. Her squad was none too happy but stayed close over head, wards flicking around her. She could smell recent death
someone put up a fight.
She walked into the woods, following the tracks, the smell of the trees was too strong...she walked up to one, seeing a small crystal embedded in its trunk. She went to look at it, hearing a snap behind her. She whirled drawing her faloon, startling a man holding a small boy.

She lowered the weapon. "Where did everyone go?" she asked.

The man shook his head, "Don't know miss, my son and I stayed the night in the woods having some father-son time, ya know? We came into town about an hour ago and there's no one home."
 

"You've been here for an hour you say?"
 

He nodded, Umbra turned her attention to her squad, "you heard that they've been here an hour and we didn't sense them."

"Right concealment spells, what's with the crystal in the tree?" Tacita asked.

"I don't know yet, but fan out go to active seeking spells and breakers, I want to find out what is being hidden. Tacita, call in for backup," Umbra ordered and looked back to the man. "I'm sorry, I'm talking to my squad, are you injured?" she asked.

"No miss, just a little concerned, my wife and daughters aren't around either, I'm worried."
 

He looked it too. Umbra asked him to stay close, as she walked on. There was the tell tale crack of magic as wards broke, but it wasn't loud, she doubted even the man and boy heard it.

Festina's voice rang in her head, "Broke a pod of crystals about five minutes north of you, they weren't strong, maybe had enough power to last a week."
 

She looked back at the man, "I am going north of here just a ways, I need you to stay here OK?"
 

He looked worried but nodded anyway.

She started to move; as soon as she was out of sight she pulled a large crystal from a bag on her shoulder, releasing her familiar. It took a form of a wolf, walking just ahead of her. The scent of death grew stronger, much too strong and Umbra picked up her pace, coming over a small hill and stopping cold. Her gut clenched as she looked down at the bodies. They were stacked almost neatly in a dug out area. She walked up to the small pit, trying to wrap her mind around what she was looking at. The people were naked; their clothes no were to be seen. Only a few of the bodies were pierced with arrows or cuts. She could see deep furrows from carts leaving the area. She started to shake.

A new mind joined hers, it was that of Sydin. "What are you doing on the ground..." he started and stopped seeing her thoughts.

"There's still no sign of struggle...these people trusted their killers…how...how can this happen?" she said walking up and touching a body, the hand in hers was cold to the touch. "They had to use magic..." she looked at the few bodies with damage, "those must have resisted..."
 

"Umbra stay put," Sydin ordered but she wasn't listening.

She heard a cry and turned to see the man and the boy running towards the pit, the man grabbing at one of the bodies mumbling to himself. Umbra shook herself and looked down at the tracks. She could see them going north.

"I have to stay put Tacita but you don't, these people have only been dead a few hours, find those carts!" she ordered.

Tacita acknowledged the order, flying north. Umbra was angry, she didn't want to be stuck on the ground but she'd received a direct order. She tried to calm the man and boy and help them to find their loved ones. It wasn't long before Sydin and a contingent of ground units were in the area. Sydin was in his Elf form to better inspect the site.

"It appears that the Impa weren't looking for a scorched earth policy," he said.

"What do you mean?" Umbra asked.

"You saw the town, nothing was burned or harmed, only the people. I dare say the Iumenta saw how we reacted to them burning towns and decided to be more subtle about their doings." He took in the heap of people adding, "And it appears they also have become far more efficient. I bet these people thought they were being evacuated from the front," he said shaking his head. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "You did good today."

She spun, "Did I? How did I Sir? I went off orders and found that despite upping our presence people are still being killed by the hundreds." A thought occurred to her and she recoiled. "Did we do this?" she asked more to herself.

"Umbra this war was inevitable, you know that..."

"Not this time...the last time...did we do this? What if we'd finished what we'd started?" she said looking up at him. "What if at Bellum Omega we'd have pushed on...none of this would have happened..." she said feeling shame, thinking of all of the death in the land, of those in the care and Mors. Rachel's sunken face burned in Umbra's mind. Yes, if only Bellum Omega had been different.
 

* * * * *

Legon touched down in his hanger. The ship rocked back and forth in the rough waters of the north but it didn't bother him. There was something he found oddly soothing about the movement of the ship. Magic kept him from motion sickness and with his size the movement just didn't feel that extreme. He and Iselin's hangers were joined, and he found her curled up sleeping. She didn't stir when he curled up next to her. It was odd sleeping next to his wife in his dragon form. It was necessary in case of attack, ascending took energy that could be used in a fight.
 

She was warm next to him but her scales were rough and he couldn't hold her. Memories flooded his mind. Times when they could lay in bed together, having his arms wrapped around her sleeping form, fingers running threw her long hair or scratching her back. He could still do that, but with claws he doubted it would have the desired effect.
 

He let himself get lost in a daydream. Kissing her soft skin, feeling her body mold to his...her lips…
 

Iselin grunted only half awake. "Stop thinking about that," she muttered in his head.

Legon pushed his nose against her neck, "I would love to be nibbling on your neck and ears right now love, you know that?"

She turned her head opening one eye, "You're mean, careful I'll fight back."
 

He made a few other comments and true to her word she fought back sending him memories of some of his favorite times with her.
 

He chuckled. "Fine, you win," he said.

They had been in the north for the better part of a month. When they'd arrived the Elves had started losing ground. Since then they'd retaken much of that ground back. With Legon's arrival and reinforcements from the south, morale had boosted and the Elves were making progress. News of the mass graves also encouraged many to fight with more vigor.
 

"Should it be a shock?" Iselin asked.

"No, not after Mors; in truth I thought things would be worse than they are," he said honestly.

Iselin nodded in agreement. The images they'd seen from that camp still haunted him. Human and Elf forces had also found the dark warriors; they were becoming a regular part of daily warfare. They were of little consequence for the Elves, skilled they may have been, but on the same level as Elves with centuries of experience they were not. Still, the Dark Warriors did their damage. He didn't see any of the green Iumenta class eight. Opes thought that the Iumenta were using him as a battle standard, a way of boosting morale in the area; Legon was hoping for another shot at him.
Maybe at the dome
he thought. With that thought he nodded off to sleep.

* * * * *

Neelya walked down the dimly lit hall, approaching the Queen’s study. She knocked twice softly.

"Who is it?" the Queen’s voice came from inside.

"Neelya, Un Prose."
 

The Queen asked her to come in. Neelya walked through the door, taking in the fine rug of two dragons on the floor. The room never seemed to change, it was a constant. She found the Queen on a terrace overlooking the city. The moon was dim this evening making the lights of Bailaya seem all the more bright. The Queen was leaning on a stone railing with her arms crossed, something very uncharacteristic of her.
 

"Join me at the rail Neelya," she said with as much warmth as the Queen could possess.

Neelya came next to the Queen, resting against the rail as well. They didn't speak for some time; Neelya would on occasion look over to the Queen, wondering why she was summoned.

"Neelya, do you enjoy serving me?" the Queen asked.

"Yes of course Un Prose, it is a great honor, " she said in earnest.

The Queen looked at her with what looked like the hint of a smile, "I was like you once you know, young, trusting and filled with ideas." She looked back out over the city. "We see the fruit of many of those ideas now here, in this city," she said.

Neelya looked out over the city and said, "You have done great things."
 

The Queen looked at her again, "Do you think so? I'm not so sure anymore."

Neelya looked down, what was she to say to that? The Queen never showed a second thought about anything.

"I don't mean my end goal, but how I've tried to go about doing it. Neelya, learning from mistakes is the mark of a great leader," the Queen said.

"What mistakes could you have possibly made?" Neelya asked, worrying she had gone too far.

"Neelya, I am as much your mentor as you are my assistant, you have nothing to fear this night from me." Then she pointed to one of the mansions surrounding the castle, "Do you see that house?"
 

Neelya said that she did, adding with a bit of disgust, "That house belongs to the human, House Ceeder," she said looking at the dimly lit house. It was large, one of the largest buildings in the area.

"Yes that is Ceeder; they were once a Great House you know, maybe even the greatest of them all. Once I turned them, turning the rest of the great human Houses was simple. Ceeder is now the only House left that has the resources and pull to keep a property so close to the Palace. The day will soon come when they will be forced to sell that property and finally, the noble Houses will have no more pull," the Queen said.

"It will be another victory," Neelya said.

"I'm not so sure anymore. The first thing I did was to destroy the human nobility, I made the people dependent on me, but it was that same nobility that had put me in power. They were the ones who paid and ran the war efforts and kept the people in order, now they are gone and I have puppet lords in their stead. And now when I need real leaders to take charge of humanity, the Elves are at our door step." The Queen looked to Neelya reading the look on her face, "You are confused? I'm not saying that destroying the human leadership wasn't going to be necessary, but now I wonder if I should have waited until the Pawdin Empire had fallen first."

"They will Un Prose, they will," Neelya said reassuring.