Queen Yavara Ch. 36

I smiled at him. "You and Leveria lead exactly no one, Lord Ternias. Huntiata, Xantian, Droughtius, Feractian and Feltian all sit on their hands while you two yell the same argument back at each other. What are they waiting for, I wonder?"

He snorted. "You've done an admirable job of keeping them in stasis, I will concede that."

"Time is not in your favor, nor is it in Leveria's. Every day that I wait, I become more attractive." I finished organizing my papers, and walked from the dais. "You've lost this war, Ternias. The sooner you realize that, the better. What happens to you if Leveria realizes it first?"

BROCK

"We had sixteen different units summit the rift this morning." Trenok said, leaning on the table where the map was spread out.

"That's five more than yesterday." I grunted, "Losses?"

"Over nine-hundred."

"Our casualties rise with our victories."

"You call these victories?"

I rested my finger on the map, and ran it down the spine of the Highland Rift. "If you tear enough holes in a sheet of paper, the whole thing disintegrates. The more units that summit the wall, the thinner their reinforcements. Soon, even their reinforcements won't be able to push us off."

"But that's not the queen's plan. Every unit that summits the wall must leave before reinforcements arrive."

"That's not the queen's plan for now." I said, my eyes wandering to the insignia of South Fort on the map, "Even so, each summit hurts the enemy's morale. What news have we heard about the cavalry division in South Fort?"

"They're stationary. A few regiments act as fast-action reinforcements, but for the most part, the division stays within the fortress walls."

I narrowed my eyes at the map, following the path of the imperial highway from South Fort, to Alkandra. "Did I ever tell you about the time I played Prestira Rasloraca in chess?"

"No."

"I lost the first few games on purpose to see how she would beat me in different scenarios, then when I saw the pattern of her midgame, I used it against her. Shordian uses every loss to learn about us. Why do you think our casualties rise with our victories?"

"He's studying our midgame?"

"Yes. He's encouraging us to beat him. He'll let us summit the wall more every day, ensured that our rising confidence will cause us to ignore the mounting losses we're sustaining. He wants us to weaken ourselves and not change our tactics. Then when the endgame does come, we'll realize too late that we've sacrificed too many pawns."

"Then it will be a true stalemate." Trenok examined the map, "So, we cease the attacks then."

"The queen wants us to keep the pressure on."

"You've informed her about what Shordian's doing?"

"I have, but she doesn't care. She and Elena are playing a different game."

Trenok snorted derisively, "What victory can be gained there? Elena is outnumbered and in the enemy's bed, while here we outnumber the enemy on their doorstep." He leaned against the table, and pointed to Mid Fort, "North Fort is unassailable; it's next to the ocean. South Fort is equally impregnable; it's next to a mountain. The cliffside is at least ten stories high all along the Rift until you get to Mid Fort. Here, it dips. The garrison here reinforces the entire middle part of the line. We will never establish ourselves on any sector for long with that garrison ready, but if we hit the fort directly, and hold the outer walls for just an hour, we could move five-thousand men up that causeway. If we take that fort, we snap their line in half."

I rubbed at my chin. "We would need a fast-action unit to take the outer walls by surprise. If they have time to reinforce them, we'd never get within fifty feet of the top."

"Hammer them every day with siege engines. Weaken the walls, harry the defenders."

"We'd still need a way to get up there fast." I mulled over the ideas, "Yavara could lift a few dozen of us up and over, but that would leave her vulnerable. We'll have to think on it later. It is a good idea."

"Will you bring it to her?" He asked, a sparkle of excitement in his eyes.

"Not yet. The queen is adverse to the idea of drastic measures. She doesn't want to sustain a great loss on the heels of a great victory."

"Our losses now are great. They're just spread thinly."

"It is the queen's will, Trenok. Trust her; she has not led us astray yet."

Trenok nodded, and left the tent. I sat back in my chair, and drummed my fingers on the map. The band tattooed around my right ring finger caught my eye, and my mind went back to Sherok. What would she think about Trenok's unborn daughter? That our son had planted his seed in the belly of the enemy would be of great delight, but Adrianna was no enemy of ours. Indeed, Adrianna planned to give the child up to Certiok, who had already named the fetus after my slain wife. The whole soup of people: Trenok, Certiok, Adrianna; it should have been a bloodbath, and it almost was, but what had come out of it instead?

I never put much thought into religion, but I did think there was a strange force in the world. It did not act for people who did not act themselves; those cowards were of no interest to this force. No, this force was interested in people like me, Zander, Yavara, Elena and Adrianna; people who did more in a week than most did in a lifetime. This force would guide people like us together, and even if we hated one another, the commonality we'd find amongst such a rare breed of people would chip away at that hate until it was gone. It was why I never wanted to see Adrianna again. The last image I had of her was of a horrified woman cowering at Yavara's feet. I didn't know if I could bear to see her as Trenok had described her; beautiful, savage, and magnificent. My hate was the last thing I had left of Sherok, and I held on to it dearly.

"But what of the other thing?" I asked myself, staring at the band on my ring finger. I loved Yavara, but I was not in love with her. The revelation about Elena certainly put my loftier ambitions on hold, or was that just the excuse my cowardice made? I'd never faltered before when the time to strike came. Perhaps the time had not yet come. Yes, that was it. I would wait, and when the right moment presented itself, I would not hesitate. It was what I told myself, anyway.

ADRIANNA

I'd tasked the other hybrids with making the vampires comfortable in their new home in the castle crypts. From what Yavara told me about Titus's abode in Ardeni Dreus, Titus wanted to live in luxury, and so we'd spared no expense transforming the crypts into an opulent dungeon. Eva, being the resident dominatrix of Castle Alkandra, had designed the place herself, and was undoubtedly proudly showing off all the amenities, and probably making Alexa and Soraya demonstrate them for the vampire's amusement. As if on cue, the sonorous sounds of pain and pleasure echoed from the open trap door, and the accompanying sardonic laughter of the vampires followed it. Then the laughter gave way to indulgent moans and splendid cries, and I knew the other hybrids had joined the fun, and turned the spectacle into an orgy. Somewhere down there, some lucky vampire boy or girl was feeling Furia inside them for the first time, and whoever it was, I suspected they owned the voice that was crying out, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Drake Titus regarded the trap door with an amused smile, and turned back to me. "You wanted to speak with me, Governess?"

"Regarding your food."

His smile turned toothy. "We brought our own."

"And when your stores run dry?"

He shrugged. "We will find more."

"You understand that I can't allow you to treat Alkandra as your personal buffet."

"Allow me?" He raised his brows.

I smiled amicably. "You are under my charge, Titus. If you don't wish to follow my rule, then I suggest you find a new country to live in."

Though his smile stayed on his face, his expression darkened. "What will you do if I ignore you?"

"Then the queen will hear of it."

"Do you think you are more valuable to the queen than I?"

"I know I am." I said, looking up at him, "Your use has run out, Titus. You're nothing but a liability to her now."

"Then why did she give me her changelings?"

"She rewarded you for your service, and she gave you much more than you deserve."

His eyes flickered. "I was told you were a very open-minded woman, but I can practically taste your judgement."

"What Yavara did is a tragedy. Those women were given a gift, and you stole it from them."

"I gave them a greater gift."

"No."

He inspected me. "You think your kind is better than mine?"

"Yes."

He snorted. "It's a rare thing to be talked down to by someone so short." He reached down, gently grasped me by the shoulders, and lifted me effortlessly above him. "There," he smiled, "now you may be condescending."

I shook my head. "Yes, you could tear me limb from limb. Yes, you could run me down even if I had a mile's head start. You are the pinnacle of humanoid predation, but we live in a society. If you wish to be a wild beast, the Great Forest is only a short walk away."

"Even King Dreus knew not to cross me on this." He said quietly, his fangs looking especially sharp.

"King Dreus feared you. I do not." I smiled into his ruby eyes, "You cannot intimidate me. Your charm and wit will take you much further in this place than your brute strength, but even these weapons will mean little to me or the others in the end. We are above you. We will always be above you. You are ageless, and so are we, but we can walk in the sun, and our cravings don't drive us to murder."

He laughed dangerously. "You are not above me, Thomas Adarian. You are a race-traitor. You are worse than the most rancid whore in an Ardeni dock brothel."

"You are very proud; I am not. The things I've done would make the most rancid whore in Ardeni blush." I angled my chin, and ran my fingers luxuriantly down my throat, "I can see what you want to do to me. I can see your every fetish and kink, and I know why you have them. I can't deduce the exact reasons, but I can intuit the scars on your soul that have shaped you like pruning cutters."

"Oh, you can?"

"Yes. Someone told you a long time ago that this was the apex of life, and you've been doing everything you can to convince yourself they were right."

He sneered. "Did losing your cock make you a psychologist?"

"Maybe it's a woman's empathy," I grinned, "or maybe I just see people in a way I hadn't before. I can see you to the marrow, Drake Titus. As complicated as you think you are, you're still just a man." My hand snaked to my shoulder, and flicked my robe off. It cascaded from my body, exposing the bronze tattooed flesh beneath, the perfection of femininity it canvased, the slight swell of my month-long pregnancy barely showing on my belly. "Now," I whispered to the vampire king, "fuck me."

YAVARA

I held the flame in my hand. Though I felt its heat, it did not burn me. It illuminated the lines of my palm and cast dark shadows along my fingers.

"Good," Destiny said beside me, "now, slowly grow it."

I took in a slow breath, and the fire expanded, consuming my hand entirely, then moving up my arm until was near to the elbow. Every wisp of the plasma felt like an extension of myself, like the air in my lungs or the blood in my veins. I extended my fingers, and the flames moved outward with them, becoming infernal digits with nails like claws.

"Now lift that tree over there." Destiny said, nodding toward the dead tree in the marshlands. I reached out with my mind, and felt the roots of the tree, the tendrils rotted away years ago. I lifted the entire thing from the marsh, and elevated it twenty feet above the earth.

"Write your name in it." Destiny instructed.

The forefinger of my infernal hand extended across the range. The further it went, the weaker my connection became, and I felt the fire beginning to cool, the wisps of flame drifting with the wind.

Focus. Destiny whispered in my mind. Her consciousness guided mine down the length of my fiery finger, then left when she was sure I had control. With my entire being seemingly projected onto the tip of my finger, I stretched the last yards between me and the tree, and scorched my named into its trunk.

"Bravo." Destiny smiled beside me.

I let out my breath, and the fiery appendage vanished. "That's all five then, huh? Indoctrination, telekinesis, transformation, healing and inferno. I've reached my full potential."

"That's a sad way to look at things, Yavara." Destiny said. Though Zander insisted on using my formal titles, his female alter-ego treated me like a pupil. I liked it much more.

"Why do you say that?"

"We always have room to grow. Are you satisfied with yourself as you are?"

"I guess I see your point." I said, and turned to her, "Destiny, what am I going to do about Elena?"

She tilted her head. "Do you want my opinion, or Zander's?"

"Are they different?"

"No, but they come from different perspectives."

I considered the blue-haired beauty, and sat on the grass. She sat beside me, and procured her pipe.

"I'm afraid that I'll force Elena to choose between me and her country." I said.

Destiny lit her tobacco, and let out a long plume. "If you force her to choose, you will have made the choice for her."

"What do I do?"

Destiny puffed on her pipe, studying me carefully. "They say time heals all wounds, and that is true, but time also kills. It is a leveler, not just a healer. Fighting this war as you are will work in the end. No matter how great a tactician Shordian is, he can't beat time, and you have all of it. Eventually the Noble Court will realize this, and they will vote for peace, but you will have exacted such a great toll over that time, and Elena will be on the wrong side of it, witnessing the decay of the country she loves."

"But I can't do anything else! An invasion is off the table, and I can't be the one who sues for peace!" I tapped on my lips furiously, then glanced at Destiny. "This war could be ended with two deaths. If Leveria and Ternias are gone, Elena will take the throne and give me the peace I need."

"You would lose all credibility with the Lowlands and Bearded Peaks."

"It can be made to look like an inside job. Ternias and Leveria have no shortage of enemies."

"There is no such thing as serendipity in politics. If someone in power benefits from something, all the others in power will assume they're guilty." Destiny sucked on her pipe contemplatively, "Do you know what scares the nobles more than you?"

"What?"

"Rebellion." She looked purposefully at me, "If the peasants revolt, the nobility will sue for peace to bring their army inward. There has never been a Highland rebellion, even in the worst of times, but... under the right conditions, it could happen."

"Under what conditions?"

Her eyes flickered. "Leave this to me, Yavara. Trust me when I say that you don't want any part of it."

ELENA

I no longer lived in the castle with Leveria. Mother had a manor in Bentius's Noble District she used when she was in court, and it was my residence now. It was all part of the image I was trying to portray as a stateswoman, and not Leveria's agent, but I worried that it wasn't enough. Perhaps there was no getting out from beneath Leveria's shadow, and no noble would seek my audience in confidence for fear that my ear was the queen's. It was a disturbing thought. I had sacrificed wonderful nights with the woman I loved so that I could stay awake in an empty parlor, ceaselessly plotting away at how to navigate the pieces on the board.

"Xantian will come around if I can gain the exclusive favor of the dwarves." I muttered to myself, "And Huntiata needs someone to secure funds for the city watch. The only source of outside funds is through the Bearded Peaks or the Lowlands, and the dwarves won't trade under the table."

I regarded a map of Tenvalia. "There are certainly those within the Lowlands who would love to trade through the Midlands, but would they dare cross Yavara? Perhaps, but how would I contact those kinds of people?" My eyes fell upon Alkandra, and my frown deepened. The city of beasts was a mystery to Highlanders. From what Yavara had told me, it was akin to an anarchistic casino, but there was structure. The hybrids ran the show there, and Adrianna, my former commander, was the most powerful woman in the city. Did she still have her old loyalties, or had she made herself Alkandran in total? The stories I'd heard indicated the latter, and I had no idea how to contact her anyway. There was no mirror relay between Bentius and Alkandra.

A knock on my door broke me from my contemplation. "My lady," the guard said, "you have a visitor."

"Who?"

"She left me with a missive to give to you." He slid the letter under the door.

I opened the envelope, then turned to the door. "She may enter."

A few minutes later, I was sitting across from Lady Sofia Droughtius. She was barely eighteen, her features still girlish, but there was a supple womanly body within her dress. The drape was rather revealing, flaunting her alabaster bosom nearly to the areola. She regarded me with tactful coyness, brushing her platinum hair behind a pointed ear, occasionally running her tongue over her plush glossed lips.

"This is good wine." She said into her glass, and tipped it back. She coughed cutely, and wiped her mouth, "Though I'm afraid my opinion on the matter counts for naught, for I have almost no experience with it."

"I'm sure." I said placatingly.

She smiled shyly behind her glass, and nursed it once more before setting it on the table beside her. "My grandfather thought war would raise our family into the highest echelons of the nobility, but it only resulted in my father's suicide. Now the regiments my family raised are all wiped out, and there are lesser nobles in our province whose houses could claim to rival our own. I fear that the Droughtius family might lose its seat in the Noble Court, and I fear that either the queen or Lord Ternias will ensure that happens if I choose to side with the other."

"And so you've come to me because you think I'm a neutral party?"

"That is one reason. The other reason is that I believe in what you say. This war will destroy us, and we must pursue peace by any means necessary."

I inclined my head, studying the young woman before me. I didn't know why I thought of her as a 'young woman;' she was only months younger than me. She used her youth and innocence to great effect. I didn't think it was a façade, but she was aware that her only means of survival in the Noble Court was to be unthreatening, and so she nurtured the image, but just because she was gentle and inexperienced, didn't mean she was naïve.

"Did Ternias ask you to come here, or did the queen?" I asked.

"I came here by my own volition, Lady Straltaira. I have received invites from both the queen and Lord Ternias, but not from you, and that made me curious."

"Invitations?" I raised my brows, "Leveria told me never to send invitations to nobles. 'Let them come to you or you will look weak,' she said."

"She lied to you." Sofia smiled behind her glass, "And I find it interesting that you called her by her first name."

I just smiled back, and took a sip of my own wine. "What do you want?"

"What can you give me?"

"Nothing. My mother still runs the estate. I am but the mouthpiece of the Straltaira family."

"You still don't trust me."

"Trust is something that needs to be earned." I glanced at the board. "I know what Huntiata wants, and I know what Xantian wants, and I can trust them to follow their desires. If I can provide, they will follow. Now tell me why it is you really came, and don't say it's because you support peace."