Chapter 6 #2
“Every day--no, every hour--it seems I find yet another person I cannot trust! Another person to be locked away, punished and then executed! People I have known all their lives, who would have died for me in the past, are now… now untrustworthy,” Illarion stated as he paced and his arms flew up into the air.
“One cannot live like this! It will not work! Yes, ruling by fear is my way, but the fear… that is all there is now!”
Valerius thought of the camps that President Goodfellow had told him about.
He imagined instead of an evilly grinning Illarion, enjoying his people’s suffering, a desperate one, unable to stop the violence and unrest sweeping through his territory.
He imagined Illarion instituting harsher and harsher punishments with the thought that it would slow down the uprising, but it was only delaying it.
“I should go back, because things are slipping out of control even more. I can feel it. The reports from home are… I do not believe them!” Illarion stopped facing Valerius. “I do not know what I will return home to. I fear… I fear Mephous’ breath will be my last resort.”
Valerius shut his eyes for a moment. “Illarion… do not do that.”
“I know! I know what you think! You must be laughing inside! Pathetic Illarion! He cannot keep control of his people! He will lose his territory to humans!” Illarion let out a bitter, acrid laugh. “What would the great Valerius know of such weakness?”
“Everything,” Valerius answered.
He opened his eyes and saw the Green Dragon King looking down upon him.
Illarion’s face was between expressions.
He was about to attack to try and stave off what he perceived would be a put down, but he was also--and this was what Caden had somehow seen and brought out in him--looking desperately hopeful.
“Illarion, why do you think Raziel and I attacked Caden and Iolaire that first day?” Valerius asked softly.
“Because he was another Dragon in your territory!” Illarion snorted.
“And? A tiny Dragon. A baby Dragon. How strong am I if Iolaire threatens me just by existing?” Valerius asked. “Raziel and I have for some time felt things were out of control.”
Illarion’s expression went thoughtful. “But…”
“The bombings? Jasper Hawes? The growing inequality? The needs of those in the Below and elsewhere? All plucking at me and I had nothing to give them. No answers. No leadership. Nothing,” Valerius told him.
“Until Raziel saw a creature that we could fight. A small white Dragon that fled from us and, while we were chasing it, killed a dozen people and injured far more. Does that sound like someone in control to you?”
Illarion chewed his lower lip. “This is not a trick question?”
Valerius laughed and winced as his head hurt. “No, my friend, it is not.”
“Your… friend?” Illarion said the word as if it had a strange taste.
“Like you, I would have said that I could handle things on my own, but, also like you, I know I cannot,” Valerius told him.
It felt so strange, yet right, confessing this to Illarion.
“We were born into a simpler time where life was cheap, including our own. We cannot respond to the problems of today with our old ways. We need to change. And we need to do it together.”
Illarion laughed bitterly. “I know I am not some intellectual like Mei or Esme or Jahara! My ways don’t work. I can bring nothing to you.”
“You’re wrong,” Valerius told him. He licked his lips. This was going to be difficult to say. “Illarion, I have always feared that we would fight.”
“You don’t think you could win?” Illarion scoffed.
“Only at great cost,” Valerius admitted.
Illarion stared. “You admit… admit this?”
“You are very strong, Illarion. You just weaken yourself by your bluster,” Valerius said. “You are a formidable opponent and when I heard what you were doing to your people--”
“I know you disapprove!”
“I do, because it is wrong. But I thought it was because you had slipped back into the oldest ways of thinking,” Valerius stated.
“Do you think I wish to rule over a prison?” Illarion shook his head in disbelief.
“I just thought you wanted to rule no matter what,” Valerius answered.
“I do. I… don’t. I don’t know anymore! There is no joy. Coming here… supposedly, to the house of my enemy was the…” Illarion clearly was fighting against himself for the next words, but he spit them out, “was the safest I have felt in a long time. With you… I knew I was safe.”
“I wish that feeling was not an illusion,” Valerius grimaced.
“It isn’t!” Illarion laughed, a little sadly. “It isn’t, Valerius. And now you have Caden to protect us both.”
Valerius let out a laugh. “I shouldn’t laugh. It’s true.”
“He has more courage in that little form than in… well, than in our big bodies,” Illarion stated. “So fierce!”
“Yes, yes, he is. They are,” Valerius amended. Then he said, “If you wish, I will help you with your territory. If it is not just this creature’s influence… I will help.”
Illarion considered this. “I do not see how, but… I am out of ideas anyways.”
“All I know is that I need you and Mephous to help against the Behemoth. We cannot do this with you,” Valerius told him, which was much like what Caden had, but cost more to say.
“You need me?” Illarion repeated him again.
“Yes, I need you.”
“You said that like you mean it,” Illarion said slowly.
“I do. Considering I am flat on my back and cannot get up, how can you not believe me?” Valerius flashed him a genuine smile.
The tension that had filled Illarion bled out. He ran a hand over his head. “I believe you. Though I do not know what good I can do if we cannot fight the Behemoth.”
“I don’t just mean your physical strength,” Valerius said. “We need to help one another, not just with the Behemoth, but with everything. I know the others have not said much, but I am certain they are in similar spots to you and I.”
“Mei’s army,” Illarion said softly. “One does not build so many machines if one feels secure. She trusts no one. Not human or Shifter. Just those machines.”
“Yes,” Valerius sighed. “That shows a problem, doesn’t it?”
“And Kaila… she doesn’t interact much with people, but she seems less carefree than in the past,” Illarion stated as he stroked his chin. “Esme missed Serai’s betrayal perhaps because she has so many things to manage.”
“I think Tez came here to get away from his territory. I heard him speaking to Esme about after all of this if he could come and stay with her,” Valerius said. “Anwar has been gathering information about Behemoth to bring to us, so he, too, knew he could not be alone in facing these things.”
“And Jahara wants all of us to live with her,” Illarion finished.
“Yes.”
Illarion then snorted. “Can you imagine us all on one continent?!”
“I don’t know. We’ve been just fine in one castle,” Valerius said.
“Point taken.” Illarion scrubbed a hand through his hair again. “This feels mad, you know? Trusting you. But it doesn’t. Of everyone… you would not betray me. I know this. I feel this.”
“I won’t. I know how much it cost you to admit what you did to me,” Valerius said quietly.
“It wasn’t easy for you either,” Illarion pointed out.
“No, it was not. And yet… it was. There was a moment when we all flew around the Earth 30 years ago where it seemed… well, all quite possible,” Valerius told him. “Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I felt it. Clan. Pack. Whatever a group of Dragons would be called. If we had one, it should be something cool. Did you know a group of crows is called a murder of crows? We should have a name like that.” Illarion bobbed his head as if agreeing with his own suggestion.
“Okay, I leave it to you to fight with the others about what we’re called,” Valerius laughed softly.
“You should be called dead Dragons,” the Behemoth’s voice came out of Ross or Harvey’s mouth, Valerius didn’t know which.
Illarion’s head snapped around towards them. His jaw opened and Valerius saw the beginnings of poisonous mist forming.
“No, wait! Don’t kill them!” Valerius cried.
Illarion grimaced, but closed his lips. “I am not giving up the idea altogether.”
“No, I know, but not yet. Don’t kill them… yet,” Valerius said.
Only if there is no hope for them then… then it might be a mercy, Valerius thought.
He struggled to sit up again. Suddenly, Illarion’s hand was in front of his face.
He looked up at the Green Dragon King and there was the slightest nod.
Valerius gripped it and Illarion hauled him to his feet and kept him steady.
Valerius turned towards Ross and Harvey, who had been expertly tied up with wire hangers.
“That was creative use of household implements, Illarion,” Valerius said.
“Wire hangers should never be used on fine clothing. Rust,” Illarion explained. “So this is the only truly good use for them.”
It was Valerius’ turn to snort. “Indeed.” Then he turned his back on the brothers and leaned in so only Illarion would hear him. “If they do anything like they did before, we must act. None of my powers are non-lethal either. But we must try not to kill them.”
Illarion merely nodded. Valerius then turned back around and stared down at the two brothers who looked back at him sullenly.
There was the nightshine of Shifters in their eyes.
Their rather dour, dumpy faces looked to be animated by malice that didn’t quite fit them.
It was the Behemoth looking out at them.
“What are you doing here?” Valerius asked.
The brother to the right smirked. “What are you doing here?”
“We have every right to be here like you do,” the brother to the left said.
“You want to kill everybody, so no, not quite the same,” Illarion stated with a shake of his head.
“Don’t you want to kill everyone, Illarion-Mephous?” the brother to the right tittered.
Illarion shrugged. “Sometimes. But then I play with my dogs and everything is better.”
Both boys laughed and it sounded like the crying of lost souls in Valerius’ mind. Raziel stirred uneasily. Valerius reached out and touched Caden’s mind. Everything was all right there though he sensed that Caden was having a similar conversation with the Behemoth.
“What are your goals?” Valerius asked.
“Again, what are yours, Valerius-Raziel? Is it not to rule over this bit of rock?” the brother on the left mocked. “Why should ours be so different?”
That made Illarion laugh. “Oh, you really don’t know him if you think that! He would rather brood in his castle than rule. But the people--ah yes, the people--they want him to be in charge. He only accepts such power grudgingly. That is different from you.”
Valerius glanced at Illarion. This friendship between them, nascent as it was, was going to take some getting used to.
“That must bother you, Illarion-Mephous. To have power simply given where it is not wanted,” the brother to the right said.
“It did,” Illarion admitted, which caused the Behemoth great pause. “But it is not his fault. He is the Black Dragon King and that… has its burdens.”
Valerius smiled as he looked down. Illarion did understand him. He always had.
“That is why I am grateful to have the support of my fellow kings and queens,” Valerius stated. His eyes fixed on the brothers. “But you… you enslave those at your side. All your power is stolen.”
The Behemoth gave him twin stares of rage. They spoke in unison, “You know nothing! We are meant to be one! Your feelings of comradeship now are only because we are here! You sense the one-ness! The helix shows the truth!”
Illarion shook his head and muttered, “Madness!”
But Valerius wondered if it was madness.
Yet he didn’t think that the Behemoth’s interpretation of what was happening was correct.
They belonged together. As a pack, a clan, a murder of Dragons.
They weren’t meant to be without one another as he had so long believed.
No, they were as one to protect this world and end the Behemoth.
Valerius smiled--and it was not a nice smile--at the Behemoth as he answered, “You have given us some insight, Behemoth. We are much stronger together than apart. You have shown us that. And that will be your undoing.”