Daughters of the Moon Pt. 10

After a minute Sophia raised her head and the room burst into worried conversation. Sophia let them talk, giving the court time to process the tremendous news.

"I can't believe he's dead," said Carla. The Dragon had tormented the kingdoms of men for over five hundred years. Once every generation his house marched south to cover all the kingdoms of men in darkness.

"Oh, he's not dead. He's just in Languor," said Gwen.

"What?"

"Yeah, the house founders can't die. At least no one's ever been able to kill one. If you actually manage to do enough damage they just puff into mist and go to their secret tomb to sleep it off. He'll be back in a hundred years or so to try conquering the world again. It's kind of his thing."

Finally Sophia raised her hand, and the conversations trailed off. "The Dragon's defeat came at a great cost to the enemy. My messengers have informed me only one out of five of the Good King's army survived the battle, including the Grail Knights, and the Good King himself is gravely wounded. Never before has the Good King lost so much in his battle with the Dragon."

Now the muttering got louder and more excited. Elaine was nodding.

"Is that good?" asked Carla.

"Good for us, right?" said Elaine.

"This presents us with an opportunity," said Sophia, "We have lost most of our western army, but our opponents have little left in the field. If we move quickly we can expand our territory and make the gains of this campaign permanent. This time we will not be driven back."

"You suggest heading west, to finish what the Dragon started?" asked Nikola, the quiet, ruthless leader of the Savons.

"No, I suggest we go east," said Sophia.

There was a confused murmur from the court.

"The Dragon was not as gentle as we during his march," said Sophia, "and the land to the west of us is a broken wasteland, drained of blood and life to feed his army. Taking that land gains us very little. To the east, Tallis is untouched."

"But this is our chance to destroy the Good King once and for all," said one of the Draculs from the crowd.

"That is the Dragon's dream," said Sophia, "I leave it to him when he returns. My only desire is to increase the strength of our united houses."

"But Tallis is an ally of the League. Attacking Tallis will draw them into the war," said another voice from the crowd. This time it was a Mircalla. Carla knew it was one of Felicity's allies, from the traditionalists, the faction that opposed house Mircalla's participation in the war.

"Not necessarily," said Sophia, "orcish raids against the southeastern League states have been increasing, and the League have moved their armies in anticipation of a full invasion. They do not have the resources to defend their own territory and come to an ally's aid. At this moment Tallis stands alone. And their land is rich, their farms and people fertile. If we take Tallis we would have the blood and soil to support more of the blooded than ever before. With those resources at our command, neither the League nor Celador will be able to oppose us."

There was an excited muttering among the crowd.

Nikola cleared his throat, "There is a small flaw with your proposal. You do not have the authority to decide this army's strategic goals. We have all sworn fealty to the Dragon and he ordered you to hold this city, strip the country of resources, and rejoin him to begin the invasion or Celador proper. That order still stands."

"The Dragon is incapacitated."

"Our oath of vassalage was to the Dragon and in his Languor it passes to his eldest bride, Elizabeth."

"We do not have time to wait for Elizabeth's approval. We have a small window of opportunity while the league is occupied by the orcish incursion and Celador regroups," said Sophia. Exasperation was creeping into her voice.

"Strategic considerations are not relevant to the question of command authority," said Nikola. His voice was completely dead but many of the Savons in the crowd were smirking, enjoying their leader stymying the elegant head of house Mircalla.

Sophia clicked her tongue. From her it was an expression of intense frustration.

"That isn't completely accurate."

All eyes turned to Adrian Dracul.

"My grandsire sent me here with orders to take command of this army. I have it in writing if you wish to see it. Signed in blood."

"If those were his orders then why didn't you take command upon your arrival?" asked Nikola.

Adrian gave Nikola a lazy smile, "The orders didn't come with a time frame and Sophia was doing such a fantastic job I saw no reason to rock the boat, so to speak, but now that it appears that, how did you put it? 'Command authority is required,' I am happy to provide it."

"If you did not act on the Dragon's orders before his defeat I'm not sure if they are still valid."

"But that is a matter of interpretation," said Adrian, "and if you were to, say, interpret the order as still valid, we would be free to go east and acquire a large amount of blood and soil for our future prosperity."

Nikola stared at Adrian, his dead black eyes weighing.

"The blood and soil granted to my house thus far have not been satisfactory. I see no reason to risk my house's blood if the benefits are so meager."

"Ah... I'm sure we can come to an agreement. As Sophia said, Tallis is rich. The breadbasket for the continent, even. That presents opportunities to be generous."

"I would need specific assurances," said Nikola.

Adrian looked at Sophia and raised an eyebrow.

"They will be provided," said Sophia.

After a moment, Nikola nodded and the room burst into excited conversation.

"What just happened?" asked Gwen.

"Adrian bribed Nikola and we're going to go conquer Tallis," said Elaine.

"Oh, neat," said Gwen.

Sophia cleared her throat and used the Painted Eyes to make her desires known to all. The room quieted down.

"Are there any more objections?" asked Sophia.

There was a short silence. Many eyes in the room turned toward Morvana, who had watched all the proceedings with faint amusement so far.

Morvana finally seemed to notice, "Sounds fine to me. As long as we get what's owed."

Sophia nodded, "We will proceed with the campaign. Count Tarleyton, Count Westings, please meet me in the war room in two hours time to discuss logistics and routing."

"Your highness, I believe, since my approval is required for this campaign to proceed, I should be giving the orders from now on," said Adrian.

The whole room froze. Sophia, from her throne, nodded, "My apologies."

"Think nothing of it. Now, Count Tarleyton, count Westings, please meet me in the war room in two hours time to discuss logistics and routing. Sophia, did you have any thoughts on who should rule in your absence?"

"Count Fitzwalter has proven a very capable administrator."

"Ah Count Fitzwalter. Are you willing to take your seat here and maintain control of the surrounding counties?"

"I am," said Count Fitzwalter. He was a large barrel chested man with an impressive mustache.

"It is possible the remains of the Good King's army will regroup and try to take this land back from us."

"If they come for us we will water the ground with their blood."

There were cheers and claps at Fitzwalter's boast.

Elaine gave Carla a small smile, "Adrian, Nikola and Sophia worked all of that out ahead of time. They're just playing to the court right now. Adrian's going to let Sophia run things and he'll rubber stamp everything she does. She gets the influence to make sure the house prospers, Nikola gets his land, and Adrian gets the credit and buys support to make a play for leadership of the Draculs."

"Oh god he's discussing his plans with you too?" asked Carla.

"He really, really, loves the sound of his own voice," said Elaine. Then she gave Adrian a small wave.

Adrian might have seen it because his pleased smile got even bigger, "Excellent, Nikola, we'd be honored if you'd join us for the strategy meeting. Morvana, did you want to attend?"

"I suppose I did fly all the way over here."

There was another round of chuckles from the crowd.

"Then it's decided," said Sophia, "The next stage of this campaign will soon begin. In a few weeks we will have our plans set, and by next winter Tallis will belong to us."

There was a round of cheers. Carla looked around. Gwen had walked over to Caroline and they were talking excitedly to a few other Mircallas. All of them were wearing their swords. She scanned the crowd and saw Felicity and Evelyn with a group of the tradionalists. Even Felicity, the leader of the anti-war faction, looked vaguely satisfied. The only other person she saw that looked unhappy was Will. His face was carefully blank.

Without a word Carla got up and headed towards the exit. All around her the blooded were talking about their next conquest, looking forward to proving themselves in battle, talking about the land they would win, the blood they would have at their command. Carla walked out a small side door, leaving the babble behind.

...

Carla was sitting on the bench by the lake. The full moon was reflecting off of it, illuminating the park like an enormous mage light. She thought back fondly to the night she had spent with Gwen in the lake, in their own private world. For a moment she considered jumping in, sinking to the bottom and staying there forever.

"There you are," said Gwen.

Carla looked up as Gwen plopped down on the bench next to her.

"I was looking everywhere for you."

"You found me," said Carla. Her voice sounded flat to her ears. Gwen picked up on it.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"Oh no, what is it?"

"What if we just stay here, instead of going with the army?"

"Honey, I'm sorry. I can't do that. I owe grandma my service. I have to fight for the house."

"You can serve the house here. Keeping what the house already has secure is still serving the house, isn't it?"

Gwen stared at her for a long moment, "But... I want to be where the action is. I don't want to just do the minimum. I want to serve the house to the best of my ability and that means fighting on the front lines."

"So you like fighting, killing people?"

"I... no, I don't like killing people. I never did. But fighting is what I'm good at. Do you like doing magic?"

"Of course but I'm doing that to help people," said Carla.

Gwen stared at her uncertainly, "Sweetie...what do you think all the stuff you've been making with Anika is for? You've been helping with the war this whole time."

Carla thought back over the last few months. Her work in the lab with Anika had been an anchor for her. The one thing that linked her new life with her old one. But she had only been engaging with it on an intellectual level. The skeletons were a series of complicated assemblies and meticulous formulas, the distillers were a beautiful integration of artificery and alchemy that was a joy to navigate. And the necros engines were a delicate balancing of resonance and force. It had all been a lot more complicated than what she had done working for Benjamin and she had reveled in the demanding, complex work. For the first time in her life she had been given challenges that matched her abilities, she had been given the respect she deserved. But she now realized she had barely thought about what her work was going to be used for. But the news from the court and Gwen's words made her face what she had been building all this time.

She never thought about the siege, about the day the Tamlin fell. She had locked it away with all the other horror of that time, but now she thought of the necrotic wounds of the soldiers she had healed, the men who had their bodies and souls shattered by the vampire's necromancy. And she realized, all this time, she had been adding to the broken men some other woman in some other city or field hospital would need to heal. This whole time she hadn't helped anyone, she had just been adding to the wounded.

"No... no, I...just wanted to do magic," said Carla, her eyes were burning, "just... it's what I do!"

"Exactly. It's what you do! And that's fine. You're helping the house prosper, helping us build a better future."

"No..." Carla got up from the bench. Sometimes she forgot how short Gwen was but now she felt like she was staring down at her from on high, "...No. I don't want to hear it. I'm so fucking tired of hearing about this better future. A better future through war and conquest, where everyone gets bled once a month. God, I used to heal people. I helped people and now... dammit, you're right, all I do is make things that hurt people. What am I even doing?"

Gwen rubbed her eyes, "I forget how young you are sometimes."

"Are you saying I'm naïve?"

"I'm saying I've seen a lot of things you haven't. I've seen what people are capable of. I've seen a lot of blood shed by people that don't need to drink it. I know what Grandma is planning seems awful to you, and I know what happened here, in Tamlin seemed terrible, but... this kind of thing happens all the time. Five years ago the city state of Massat sent an army to the free city of Caralla. They smashed down the walls of the city with cannons and sacked the place. There's a tradition among the free states that a city that resists a siege is sacked for three days. It's a reward for the soldiers who breach the walls. Three days of total chaos. Of murder, rape and pillage. You can't imagine it. Compared to that, what happened here in Tamlin was the most gentle conquest I've ever seen."

"Gentle, you call what happened here gentle?"

"Yes! Yes I do. Sophia insisted the Dracul's human soldiers be kept out of the city until after we had completely secured it. Skeletons don't burn down houses and force women. And since we took over the only changes here have been for the better. The Savons are great at keeping crime down and Sophia lowered all the regular taxes since our army doesn't need much food. You've been to the Dorian, do the people look oppressed to you?"

"It doesn't matter Gwen, we're still monsters. We took this country by force and we round everyone up once a month and suck blood out of them."

Now it was Gwen's turn to stand. She got up from the bench and turned to glare at her childe.

"You're still caught up on that, after all this time? After all the effort I went to to make sure you didn't hurt anyone when you feed? After Sophia built this whole blood tax system from scratch to make sure the people aren't hurt when they give blood? Our house, your family is trying so hard to do this right. To make something good out of all this. And it'll never be enough for you. You're never going to get over your guilt even though you're not doing anything wrong."

Carla folded her arms, facing down her sire, "I don't know, Gwen, I don't know. Maybe you're right and we're not any worse, but I don't have any control over what the League does or the Good King does, but they're not going to be the ones going to Tallis and killing people. I don't want to be a part of that."

There was an ugly silence.

Gwen's shoulders slumped and she sighed, "Will you do me a favor?" She asked.

"What?" asked Carla. Her voice sounded petulant to her ears.

"Talk to Anika. I've had doubts before too. Mine were a little more... personal, but when I had problems Anika has helped me. She can help you too. She stays out of politics, she's a lot older than either of us and she knows everything. Talk to her and if you still want to stay here after, I'll... we can talk about it."

"You really mean that?"

"I do. God Carla, the things you make me do."

"Alright, alright thanks Gwen."

"Of course."

...

Carla knocked on the door to Anika's office.

"Come in."

Anika looked up from notes she had been carefully writing. To Carla it looked like a new alchemical formula, "my dear, what can I do for you?"

"I... I'm sorry I just... I just wanted to talk to you about something."

Anika put down her pen. "Of course," she said. Then gestured to the chair across from her.

Carla sat down, paused a moment, suddenly unsure how to start. Anika waited patiently.

"So the army is going east, to Tallis. We're going to take over and carve it up between the houses, just like we did here."

"I see."

"You don't sound happy about it."

"War is always a tragedy."

"But you'll be going, I assume."

"Of course. I am the house's master necromancer."

"So you're going to go with the other necromancers to..."

"To serve my house."

"To kill a lot of people."

Anika nodded, looking mildly uncomfortable, "It is not something I enjoy."

"Then why do it?"

"As I said, I serve my house."

"You're older than Sophia, right? You were blooded first."

"You know I don't like to discuss my age."

"But technically it's your house. Or it would be if you wanted it. You could just say the word and the whole house would follow your lead."

"It wouldn't be so simple. And regardless, I trust Sophia to guide the house to prosperity."

"Even if that means invading another country?"

"Something tells me you're asking this more for yourself."

Carla nodded, "I didn't choose this. I didn't want to be here, and I've gone along without thinking about what I've been doing with you because... because I needed it. And Gwen is..." Carla smiled "... distracting. But I... I feed on people to stay alive, like a parasite. I'm building weapons to help monsters take over the world. And I've been telling myself I don't have a choice. But that's a lie. There's always a choice."

"And Gwen told you to talk to me?"

"Yes."

"I appreciate that you did so," said Anika.

Then she leaned back in her chair. Carla could tell she was preparing herself for a lecture.

"First, I want to say that many young blooded have struggled with the moral quandary of our nature. No one else in our house will discuss this with you, but when faced with the conflict between their human morality and the needs of their new existence, some young blooded choose to walk into the sun. And the ones that acclimate to their new existence often reconcile this quandary by devaluing human life, justifying their consumption by dismissing the suffering they inflict. I tell you this to say you are facing a common problem, and the very fact you have these questions speaks well of you."

"Thank you."

"Now, the simple answer to this quandary, the one that many vampires settle upon, is that vampires are no more predatory than humans. That taxation, bondage, pillage, and many other elements of human society are built on exploitation and that the exploitation of the blooded is no worse. The wars of the Dragon have a similar justification. Humans have warred with each other more than we ever have and are just as destructive as we are, if not more so."

"The world is a vampire," said Carla.

"Exactly, but you don't find that satisfying. Two wrongs don't make a right, after all. You need to balance your predation, to feel your contribution to the world is a positive one."

Carla nodded.

"I take it you have grasped the implications of the distiller," said Anika.

Carla blinked at the sudden change of topic, "Yes, how did you know?"

"You are an intelligent young woman. The distiller gives us access to tremendous power. We're able to leverage the blood of humans far more efficiently than ever before, letting us fuel our magic and construct legions of undead servants to a degree never before possible. This means, for the first time in our long history, the blooded may very well conquer the kingdoms of men.

At the same time, the distiller makes it possible, for the first time in our existence, to live in harmony with humanity. By storing the blood contributed by a large group of people, the cost of our predation on humanity can be distributed so that no individual human is harmed."