Chapter Forty-One
Vil
We walked back through the Rift hand in hand, greeted by Cruce, who grinned broadly from ear to ear when he saw us, the ready sword fading back into his grip.
“You look like a puppy dog whose owners just came back after being gone for the evening,” Vanessa remarked.
“Woof, woof,” Cruce pantomimed. “I’m just excited because I know what comes next.”
“Which is?” I said.
Cruce’s face took on a darker look. “Showing the Nine just how badly they fucked up by trying to take you, us, out.”
“True,” I said but held up a hand for patience. “But we must be analytical about it. We have to think.”
“What’s to think about?” Cruce demanded. “We go to the fortress, summon our supporters, and deal with them once and for all.”
“We’d never make it there,” I said. “Not alive. I can guarantee that the Reavers will have teams posted between Mount Drakonus and the Iron Fortress, with explicit orders to intercept and kill us.”
Cruce looked unhappy.
“Strong as we are, my friend,” I told him, “we’re going to need help.
A lot of it. We have no idea what the Nine have told everyone.
But if they have the Reavers operating out in the open, it’s a safe bet many of their supporters will also be ready for open violence. We are but two. They have an army.”
“So, what are you suggesting?” Vanessa asked, leaning slightly against my arm.
“They have an army,” I rumbled. “We’re going to need an army of our own.”
“Most of your supporters already live at the Fortress,” Cruce said. “How can we get word to them that it’s time to rise without actually going to the Fortress?”
“We don’t,” I said, turning back to the Rift. “We’re going to have to find new supporters. Those who believe in the proper succession of the throne. Who don’t support the belief of the Nine.”
“What are you proposing?” Cruce asked, coming to stand next to us.
“The God-King has shown us to be Eternal Mates,” I explained. “Now, we must show that to the people. Find those who will fight for us, who will stand up to the Nine. We’ll go village by village. Work our way in toward the Fortress.”
“That won’t be easy,” Cruce warned. “The Nine have long been seen as closer to the people than the throne has, Vil. They administer those lands. The rule of law has always gone to the Nine before the throne. Their loyalty will be tough to win.”
“We have no other choice,” I growled. “Adamantine cannot be allowed to win. He seeks power for the purpose of power, and if that’s allowed to succeed, he will suck the life from the Iron Clan for his own benefit. I will stop him. Alone, if I must.”
Cruce snorted. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going with you, my prince. I just said it wouldn’t be easy.”
Vanessa squeezed my hand tight. “And I’ll be going as well. If I’m going to be the princess, I can’t sit this out. Human or not, I have to be there. These are going to be my people. They have to know I’ll fight for them.”
“How will you fight?” Cruce asked. “I mean no offense, of course, but a human is no worrisome foe to a dragon.”
“The best way I know how,” she said. “With words. After all, it was a human poet who said the pen is mightier than the sword. It’s time I put that to the test, quite literally, don’t you think?”
I grinned, fiercely proud of my mate. The soul of a dragon resided in her, of that I had no doubt. And soon, neither would others.
“Excellent,” Cruce said with a matching smile. “When do we start?”
“Right now.”
We walked through the Rift together and, shortly after, shot out of the depths of Mount Drakonus, heeling hard to the south.
The Iron Fortress was a straight shot southwest from the mountain, but we headed along the boundary of Iron territory and the Storm clan, which resided in the southeast part of the dragon realm.
Our first stop was a tiny village by the name of Solde.
I swooped down into the central courtyard and came to a stop.
My shiny platinum scales drew attention from the mixed crowd of human and dragon forms. Cruce, with his duller gray, looked more like the dragons.
My brightness, however, was a sign that I was born of royal blood.
Though I doubted they were aware of just how royal.
“Hello,” I said as a crowd gathered around us. “How is everyone today?”
An elderly dragon, his scales falling more slate in color, shrugged, the action using his wings like a human would their shoulders. “We work. We eat. We sleep. Such is the day in the outer villages. Our young patrol the border, keeping back the patrols from the Storm Clan.”
“And I’m sure the men and women of Solde do an excellent job of that,” I said, suddenly struggling for words.
What did I say to them to get them to change their routine, to give up what they knew, just to help me reclaim my own house? A place I’d earned through birth, not action and skill.
Not that Adamantine has earned it, either.
“Who are you? What do you want?” the elder asked, not impressed by my words.
“I am Prince Anvil,” I said, deciding to go with the honest truth. “This is my mate. Princess Vanessa. Of Earth.”
I paused for effect, watching the nearby eyes as I made that pronouncement.
“A human,” the elder observed.
“With the soul of a dragon,” I growled defiantly. “We have been to the top of Mount Drakonus. We have taken the Test, and the God-King has blessed us as Eternal Mates.”
“Unusual,” the elder remarked. “But you didn’t answer my other question.”
I noted how he left out any term of respect addressing me. Was he purposefully being rude? Or did he just not know, or perhaps not even care? In the end, he was right. I hadn’t answered his other question.
“I am here, seeking your support,” I said.
“Of course we support the Iron Throne,” the elder said, eliciting a round of nods from the gathered forms. “We’re Iron dragons, after all.
Still don’t explain why you’ve come to Solde.
Hasn’t been anyone from the royal family here in eighty-odd years.
Not since the Storms tried to push us out.
Even then, your daddy just showed up, sent them packing with the help of us locals, and then left. ”
“Would you prefer that to us being involved in all the business of those who live in Solde?” I countered. “Overseeing all your day-to-day actions? I could arrange that if you’d like. But I should think you would prefer that we trust you enough to do things on your own.”
“Trust being the reason, is it?” the elder drawled. “Or sheer laziness? Lack of care? Unwilling to sully yourselves by coming to such a lowly village, I think, is more the like of it.”
I hadn’t expected such hostility from the elder dragon.
“Have I wronged you?” I asked, tilting my head. “Done something to offend you?”
“Other than swooping in here, ready to preen and make some pretty speech and take our boys off to war?” the elder spat.
“No, I suppose not. But leave us. We want nothing to do with you. Let us live our lives in peace. We’ll guard your border for you and do our part.
You do your part by pretending we don’t exist unless them Stormies act up again. ”
I looked around the village, seeing a similar look on the other faces.
“Very well,” I said stonily, doing my best not to act dejected. “My apologies for the intrusion.”
The elder just watched, saying nothing as we took to the sky and left Solde behind.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” Cruce said once we were out of earshot.
“No, it didn’t,” I muttered, my words mostly lost to the wind. “I suspect Adamantine has been poisoning the outer villages against the throne for some time. Without my father or I being aware.”
“I told you that the Nine are respected figures out here,” Cruce said. “They help these people when they need it. To most, the throne is just some fancy dragon who never does anything for them.”
“Well, that will need to change once I sit on it,” I said. “Regular tours of our villages and meeting with our people. No more sitting lazily on the throne. It’s time we put the work in.”
“But what do we do for now?” Vanessa asked, rubbing the scales on the side of my neck as we flew on.
“We go to the next village,” I said, increasing speed. “And we try again. And again. Until we have the supporters that we need.”
Neither she nor Cruce argued, but I could tell they both expected we would run into much of the same at future stops.
They were right.