Site 2: Rathess
The first thing they said when we arrived was, “Where have you been?”
-- From the journals of Rivers Between Us, twilight caste sorcerer
Old Allies[edit]
“Traitor!” The dragon king bellowed again in Old Realm. Leaf Shakes the Wind flung himself sideways over a low wall as a nine-ring saber as tall as a man swept through were he had been a moment before, its red-gold blade ringing like crystal as it clove stone instead of flesh. The massive creature leapt after the Night Caste, claws crushing stone tiles into gravel as it landed.
Leaf was astounded by his attacker’s skill and power. The highly-cultivated nature of his Essence was obvious, but the ferociousness with which he attacked was like a wild beast. The first attack had come as a complete surprise, rising as the creature had from a hidden hatch in the ground; only the soft but adamant whisper of Leaf’s Essence had kept his head on his shoulders.
“Look,” Leaf began to respond, “I know we did some pretty awful things back then, but we’re trying to… oof!” A clawed hand caught him in the chest, driving him back against a vine-covered pillar.
“I give no quarter to the Usurpers.” Hot breath momentarily fogged Leaf's visor, the dragon king’s claws still holding him against the stone so that his feet dangled above the ground. The saber rose again. “You will make a fine sacrifice to the Unconquered Sun.”
“Like hell.” Leaf’s body melted into shadow, slipping through the fingers that gripped him. He leapt backwards as his body re-solidified, hurling a handful of throwing knives at his opponent, each striking hilt-first. Where the knives struck, great bony plates and scales shifted, wedging slightly against one another in painful and awkward positions.
The dragon king’s eyes widened. “Joint wounding…?”
Leaf’s jump carried him to the top of a nearby pile of rubble, but when he landed, the dragon king was already there, the rage on his face moments before suddenly transformed into what seemed like abject desperation. “Who are you?” he bellowed. “Who? Show me!” Thick, clawed fingers scrabbled at the helm covering Leaf’s head.
The two tumbled down from the rubble, landing with a crunching noise, the dragon king pinning Leaf to the ground. The seal on the neck of Leaf’s Most Fearsome Armor of the Fire Dragon released with a soft hiss, the helm pulling free, and for the first time, the two combatants locked eyes.
Lun Kuai wrestled with The Nemacor, the demon’s flexible, barbed mandibles searching for his face. The trap had been perfect: his team lured away by pitfalls and illusions, the walls lined with arcane sigils and devices which had imperceptibly drained away his essence. The weapons and armor that had so often been his salvation were now his greatest hindrances, as even the essence he had committed to their use dissipated, leaving them heavy and unwieldy against his limbs.
His struggles became weaker, and The Nemacor smiled, mouth-parts spreading wide and wriggling with Malfean glee. It leaned in, as though to kiss the hapless Solar, then jerked back again as two sets of long talons wrapped around its head from behind, wrenching it away; at the same time, the the claws seemed to lengthen, their edges growing sharper as they grew directly into the demon's flesh. With a sick tearing noise, Bones Like Jade wrenched The Nemacor’s head from its shoulders and stood, grinning at Lun Kuai, as the lesser soul collapsed.
Something spattered on Leaf Shakes the Wind’s face, wrenching him away from the sudden flood of memories. Tears ran in rivulets down from the reptilian eyes of the dragon king he now remembered, splashing down onto his own upturned face.
“Bones Like Jade?”
The dragon king nodded. “Lun Kuai… you’ve returned.”
Will to Power[edit]
Hacking through the invasive vines, creepers, saplings, and saw grasses as they went, Rivers Between Us and the ancient Dragon King Rahadru made their way through the ruins of Rathess. Occasionally the great lizard would pause beneath a broken arch, overgrown and covered in rust brown lichen, but he would pass on swiftly, treading with caution up broken stairways and past courtyards that stank of feral dragon piss.
They stopped at a low rise in the north of the city, Rahadru sniffing the wind and checking for landmarks while Rivers panted, his hands on his knees, and spat a red streak into the bushes.
The dragon king appraised him for a moment and stated, as though pointing out a surprising fact, “You are weak.”
“Yes... uh... you’ve got me there.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tried to stay standing.
“If I wanted to, I could kill you now.” Rahadru tapped one claw against his belt while he considered the proposition. “I won’t kill you,” he said, nodding his head as though he had made a fair, if somewhat lenient judgment.
“Thanks, that means a lot to me.” He gave up and sat down on a chunk of marble rubble. He asked a question to distract his guide from the delay. “So, this orastery, it’s a big deal, huh?”
“Constructed and fueled by powerful ancient magics, it could help you on your journey, yes.” He turned to look at the youth seated beside him, and the corners of his mouth turned downward. “But is a nestling like you ready for the Sun’s power? You can’t have seen your fiftieth summer. You should be drinking mother’s milk, not god’s blood.”
“I get that a lot. Listen, I have to finish this. Maybe we should keep moving...”
“Why do you have to finish this? Do you seek the adamant circle for the power, or for the...”
“Sure.” Rivers nodded his head.
Rahadru’s unblinking eyes widened. “There were other choices. Some of them were quite good...”
“...oh, well, maybe...”
“...but power is the best reason.” He nodded his great scaled head. “Good choice. But why do you want power? You are small and practically an infant.”
Rivers scratched at the stubble on his scalp. “Well... I kind of have to sneak into a deathlord’s fortress, descend into some kind of labyrinth, and steal a powerful arcane artifact. I don’t think I can do it without the strongest magic in creation.”
“Hmm. Those are hard things to do.” He suddenly narrowed his eyes. “Why do you want to steal from the dead?”
“Um... yeah. I guess... there’s this girl? At least, I think she’s a girl, but she might be a man, or really old, which would be... awkward, and kind of off-putting... but I promised her that I would help her... not be half-dead and enslaved to an ancient zombie-lord of a decaying necropolis.”
Rahadru sighed with profound disappointment. “You were wrong then. You don’t seek this knowledge for power. You seek it for love. This is also a good reason, for a man. But it’s not as good as power.”
“You’re not going to start telling me how stupid I am for doing this, and how I should never have started dating her in the first place and all that, are you? Because I’m starting to get really tired of hearing it.” He rubbed the sweat off his face with a sleeve of his robe, then though better of it and ripped off the sleeve.
“No. You do what you want. You bear the mandate of heaven. If you want to breed with her, it’s your right.” Rahadru sniffed the air again. “If you want to take something from a deathlord, you will need strong magic, for you are very weak. I will help you.”
“Thanks... I guess.” He stood and looked over the ruins. “I guess we should keep moving before this heart to heart lasts any longer.”
“Agreed.”
Bones Like Jade told me that after the Usurpation, he had personally offered up the hearts of three Dragonblooded to the Unconquered Sun in my honor.
When I asked him if that was normal for back then, he actually seemed a little embarrassed, and said, “Well, it should have been more, but you weren’t the easiest person to get along with back then, so…”
-- From the journal of Leaf Shakes the Wind, Night Caste spymaster
