19. Izzy
IZZY
This time, since we were appealing to all races, it had been decided that Safir would introduce me, not Lhorine. The elf wasn’t even on stage, we wanted to minimize elven presence for this speech.
I couldn’t decide which was worse, having to speak, or waiting here, doing nothing while more and more people filled in.
I really wished Myel was here, so his mere presence could soothe me, but Rook, Vyns, and Koar were doing a pretty good job of filling in.
Small touches, whispered words, encouraging thoughts, bolstering spirit, it all went a long way toward helping me calm myself… a little.
Then, finally, the massive hall was filled and Safir spoke, the lights out over the thousands of spectators dimming.
“Assembled peoples of the three fae realms.” Safir’s voice boomed out through some sort of magical sound system.
“Those of you here today have chosen to stay and fight or at least remain neutral in the fight to come. If you are in the latter group, thank you for coming. I don’t know if our words today might sway you, but your willingness to listen is heartening. ”
I’d never heard or seen Safir like this. The tiger shifter was usually so… shifty. I couldn’t help a tiny smile at my own pun. But this Safir wasn’t the behind-the-scenes mastermind, but an orator of force and persuasion.
I had to admit, the man really was a boon, despite how much we’d butted heads in the beginning. Perhaps I hadn’t given him enough credit. He had been an ass, but he was doing it all for the right reasons at least. He’d been fighting for my family when I’d been in diapers.
“For many thousands of years, so many of us have lived under some form of oppression or suppression. Whether you be dwarves, once elves but shunned by your own kind, or hobgoblins, created as servants, never knowing any other life. Perhaps you’re dragons, proud and strong, fighting someone else’s wars, or seraphim and salmaeri, forced into combat against forces in your realms. For all the nymphs and dryads, who lived in peace, but dreamed of more, and for all the pixies who’ve served, and the shifters who’ve died, it is time to take a stand, time to rise up and face our oppressors! ”
A deafening cheer rose and persisted.
A shiver ran through me. Wow. Safir really knew how to inspire a crowd.
“And,” Safir continued as the cheer began to die down, “here, to lead you into that new future, to stand with you and fight beside you, is a woman of two worlds, a half breed royal, someone who can, and will, finally change our fates and the fate of this very world!”
Another cheer as Safir motioned to me and I stepped forward.
Okay… I had no idea how I was going to compete with that, but Zora and I had spent hours on my speech and I had to hope it would speak to everyone here.
I laid the papers out before me on the lectern, taking several deep breaths and studying the first line as the cheer slowly died.
“My people,” I began, voice cracking with nervousness. I cleared my throat and began again. “My people… and I can say that, because I have lived among you. I may be an elf, but I am not of their world.”
Silence had fallen. The cheer faded. As I paused — yes even that pause was written into my speech — I looked out over the thousands arrayed before me.
“We have a chance, here and now, to change this world. I say we, because it will take all of us. I do not plan to rule alone. It has already been decided that when I become queen—” I’d really wanted to say “if” but Zora had insisted on “when,” best to assume we’d win the fight to come, “—a ruling council shall be formed, composed of all people. Everyone shall have an equal voice. My own voice shall be one of many. I will be more of a figurehead, than a true ruling monarch.”
I gave a nervous little laugh, feeling a teensy bit better as I worked through the speech. This next bit I’d insisted on putting in, even though Zora had thought it might minimize my potential.
“And that suits me just fine. I don’t want that power. I’d rather it be in the hands of a democratic government. I will fight for you, with you, beside you. I will work to free you all, but once this war is finished, I will not seek to rule you. My goal is to have you rule yourselves.”
A wave of applause, starting with a scattered few, then growing, washed over the crowd. As I waited for it to die down, a glint of light from deep in the audience caught my attention. Maybe someone was taking a picture?
I dismissed it.
“Let me be clear,” I continued. “Everyone. Will. Be. Free.” I punctuated those words with a soft pound of my fist on the lectern.
“Dragons will no longer be protectors of the realm. They can choose to be whatever they wish. We already have an envoy speaking with the titans to stop the generations of bloodshed between us, and with peace in this realm, there will be no need for such protectors.”
A bit of movement down one of the aisles caught my attention, someone getting up and moving forward slowly. I ignored them and kept going.
“Those who fight in Elysial and Urval will be given sanctuary here, and we shall endeavor to make peace with the ages-old enemies in those realms as well. No one will have to fight and die, no one will have to serve. Everyone shall be judged on their own merit and—”
I caught sight of the projectile, but too late. The crossbow bolt, fired by someone below, hit the lectern and deflected to one side, just missing me.
Men rushed the stage.
What the…!
Koar roared, racing to my side. Vyns blasted light.
Rook threw fire. Even those in the seats below us fought, but the attackers seemed to be everywhere.
Three men, clad in black, leaped — clearly enhanced in some way — hundreds of feet over the audience to land on the stage, engaging with Koar.
They had weapons, but he didn’t, using his own toughness to take their attacks, and his hands and feet to beat them back.
Other attackers soared down from above, wings on their backs. They’d go right over Koar and Vyns and Rook, who were engaged with those on the ground.
I summoned water from the air and slashed a thin wave at them, cutting several of them down, but a handful still landed nearby.
The stage was made of wood, not stone, but I could still summon earth from farther below me. A wall shot up between me and the attackers, shattering the wooden stage. But I should have realized how silly that was… since they had wings.
Three quickly reached the top of the wall, clambering over, weapons ready.
A tiger-man-thing roared from nearby and leaped up to meet them… Safir in hybrid form. Wow, he was scary.
The fight closed in on me, my defenders blocking my view of the audience and everything else as more and more men rushed the stage, there had to be hundreds of them!
How na?ve I’d been to assume this wouldn’t happen, that Valnea wouldn’t send assassins to take me out. Of course she would.
Safir leaped back off the wall, having dealt with the flyers, and landed beside me, bloody and wounded, but still going strong.
Another attacker pushed past Koar, who was taking on five others. I slashed water at the assassin and took him down.
But then two more rushed me from the other side.
I took one down with water while Safir engaged with the other, using tooth and claw.
Then… as suddenly as it had begun… it was over.
Koar spun to check on me.
“You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, you?” The big man didn’t look okay, covered in wounds, some deep and bleeding. I went to heal him, but he stopped me.
“I’ll be fine, dragons are immune to Kanali poison.”
Poison?
“Help him.” Koar pointed behind me and I turned to see Safir stagger and fall. He’d killed that last attacker but was clutching a dagger in his stomach.
I rushed to the shifter as his hybrid form faded and he returned to human, but that only exacerbated the wound, since this form was smaller, the knife cut him deeper when he shrank.
I laid my hands on his exposed chest, the suit he’d been wearing torn to ribbons. He pulled out the knife and tossed it far from me, smiling through his pain as I tried to heal him.
“Of all the ways—” Safir convulsed with a gurgling cough, “—I thought… I might die.” He winced in pain, going limp, weakening. “This is… the least expected… and the most welcome.”
“You’re not dying!” I hissed at him, but something was wrong. His body was healing, his wounds closing, yet he still grew weaker. When I sensed into him, the grotesque taint of the poison was somehow everywhere in his system. It was too virulent, too strong. I couldn’t heal it fast enough!
“I… fulfill… my oath.” Safir struggled to say the words, then he gave a wan smile and went still.
“No!” I screamed, pushing everything I had into healing him, but even as my strength drained, the poison persisted. What the hell was this stuff?
And with my senses infused into Safir’s body… I felt him die. His heart stopping, his life slipping away, the poison turning more and more of his tissue into necrotic filth.
“No, no, no, no, no!” I shouted. “You can’t die!”
But my words did nothing.
Safir was gone.