The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 102

Part 16

“I gave no parental attention or affection to any of my offspring. I have no emotional inclination to do so, and it would only have made them a target for dominance and manipulation by those who sought influence with me. I had planned to continue that policy in regards to you, but I was confident that you would quickly rise through the ranks on your own merit.

“I had planned that when you became First Flame; which was second-in-command in my power structure, I would either kill you in order to eliminate the only true contender for my power, or take you under my wing as my protégé, and become your mentor in order to ensure the continuation of my efforts in case I should fall to the demons. I would have taken a deep Reading of you in order to judge your loyalty, and based my decision on the result.

“Beyond that, I gave the matter no further thought until you arrived here today. And now my plans are moot. But I find that meeting you and speaking to you gives me a feeling of… pride, I think. As well, though it may have been happenstance, your visit here today has led to my meeting and gaining the sponsorship of Holy Amirgath, and that is the finest treasure I have ever received.

“I am not offering to act as your parent, and I am certain that you do not wish it in any case. But if you wish to meet and speak again, I would welcome that. I am always here. Until the tournament, that is.”

“Huh. Perhaps I will, some time.” Karz allowed. “After the tournament.”

He paused and puffed a bit of black smoke before he continued. “It is not flattering to know that I was conceived as a research experiment, but it is better than thinking that I was the result of some nefarious machination of yours.

“Come what may, I am certain we will meet again soon, due to the tournament and the upcoming war. Fare well until then.”

Zarkog gave him a respectful nod, which was returned. Val and the twins gave another bow, then the four youngsters ended their Simulacrums.

Falgaroth considered Zarkog. “You’re coming along well enough.” he judged, and disappeared.

“Zarkog.” Quewanak nodded.

“Quewanak.” Zarkog nodded in return. “I am not surprised to learn that you have Ascended. You reached the eldest age ever attained by any Draconian mortal, and six of the previous eldest nine became gods. I expect that I will also Ascend soon, within ten years at most.”

“I agree. And as Zwak said, your astronomies have shown us that all of Kellaran is playing in a greater game now. It is a new age. We will let the past be the past.”

“I agree.” Zarkog nodded, and gave him the bow to a military superior.

Quewanak knew that it was as close to an apology as he was ever going to get from Zarkog. So he returned the bow, and disappeared.

Alone with his new student, Amirgath considered Zarkog for a moment before he spoke. “We have both changed a great deal since taking the vow of justice on Falgaroth’s stone. But there is no reason for us to be any less for it.”

“I agree, Lord. I have been concentrating on astronomy and biding my time since my recent fall, but this tournament presents a most unexpected opportunity.”

“It does. And though I have offered you my friendship, know that I have offered to help you for the sake of my Draconian pride. If one mortal is to rule all of Kellaran, I prefer that it be one of us, and you are still the most capable dragon. If you thought I chose to help you for more personal or sentimental reasons, I am sorry to disappoint you. My friendship is sincere, but that has nothing to do with making you ruler of Kellaran.”

“On the contrary, my Lord. Choosing a potential ruler for Kellaran should never be left to sentiment, and I deeply dislike every instance of the emotion. To the strong goes the prize, now as always. Let the sentimental comfort the weak.”

“Excellent.” the eldest of the dragon gods declared with the Draconian equivalent of a grin. “Then we begin…

PART 17

The four young Governors emerged from Translocation in the earliest childhood home Karz remembered; The Lair of The Lord Regent. The actual den they arrived in was Povon and Kragorram’s home in Serminak, but it was only a small part of the complex that was The Lair, which included the smaller complex that was The Lair of The Prince of Serminaki Draconia, where Kragorram and his staff attended to his governmental responsibilities. The offices of The Prince of The Sylvan Nation were also housed here.

All of it had been excavated and constructed out of the mountain of slag and rubble that had once been Zarkog’s lair, before the recent war. The entire installation was the product of Kragorram’s engineering, Povon’s décor design, and their combined architecture. They had insisted it be so, in order to ‘put their mark on things’.

“Wow, nice place!” Fire commented after taking a look around. Though built to dragons’ huge dimensions, it seemed far more a palace than a den; with huge straight-walled rooms, doors that opened and closed on command, and fine furniture sized and shaped for those of every race scattered about in odd groupings, some of which sat on shelves on the walls that were accessed by stairways and ramps with no handrails. It was predominantly white marble with red streaks, accented with orange marble with black streaks. The furniture was mostly Elven Redwood, grown into shape and padded with upholstery cushions adorned with magnificent embroideries and tapestries of scenery and cityscapes from all over Serminak.

They sent their parents a quick psionic note saying where they were, and asking to meet them there when it was convenient.

All five of their parents appeared less than half a minute later.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, my son.” Povon told Karz with a grin and a quick hug, which seemed like a strange mannerism for dragons, but they both obviously enjoyed the embrace.

“Don’t be silly, Mother.” Karz chuckled. “We know you’re all busy now that you’re out in the world again, and it was only five breaths anyway. You could have taken hours if you wanted. We’d have gotten started without you.”

“Oh I’m sure you would have, and while I do trust you, my love, I think I’d like to be able to keep an eye on you while you completely disrupt and rebuild the entire social order of my continent!” Povon pleasantly retorted.

“Fine work on the Punishment Cube spells, by the way.” Mark grinned as he scooped his daughters up in his arms and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. “I really am incredibly impressed.”

“It must be a very complex spell-set.” Alilia smiled as she gave Six a quick hug. “How many spells are in it?”

“Two thousand, seven hundred and six.” Val proudly announced. “In up to six layers. That is, sub-spells of sub-spells, up to sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-spells. Plus of course there’s two thousand, seven hundred and six fail-safes, one for each of the functional spells. If even one sub-spell doesn’t work right, its fail-safe will turn the whole thing off and alert us. That’s to make it tamper-proof, mostly. I wouldn’t use that many fail-safes just to be sure of the spells.”

“Is this a secure facility?” Six asked as the group ambled over to the nearest grouping of furniture. “That is, can anyone overhear us right now?”

“The possibility is extremely remote, though of course it always exists.” Povon conceded. “And of course, none of us can be sure if we can maintain an effective Privacy Shield against the gods, so they might always be listening. We can block them from our minds, if we use enough power, thanks to Quewanak’s psionic techniques. But we’re not sure if we could effectively protect an entire facility like this that way.”

“We can’t even be sure if we can block them from our minds.” Fire insisted. “For one thing, there’s gods of every race, including most if not all of the hidden races, and we don’t even know what all of those races are yet. Who knows what their gods can do? Not to mention that gods are as unique and individual as mortals are, we sure learned that today. Quewanak and Amirgath are both dragon gods, but they might as well be different races for how different they are, and their capabilities are just as different. That’s obvious even without Reading them.”