CHAPTER XVI #3
Desmond stills at my side, his dark brown eyes looking at me in genuine question. “What do you mean you watched his hair move?”
“I mean that his hair wasn’t hair. I figured it was an aspect of his summoning.”
Desmond looks at me with a hard glance, either not understanding my words or not believing what I say.
But I know what I saw that night, and what I saw on the Prince’s shoulders didn’t match any of the other men that were with him.
His darks braids moved on their own accord, darting forward in a way that was searching.
“I don’t know how else to explain it,” I offer, “except that the hair of his braids moved. They took the form of snakes, Desmond, and even moved like snakes across his shoulders.”
Desmond’s typically unreading face falls into a grimace, his eyes thoughtful.
“And you saw flames under the Prince and Princess of Pyre, yes?”
“Yes,” I nod, remembering those strong red swirls under their skin, “did you not?”
Keane didn’t.
“No, Lady Alexis,” he replies, turning back to the road ahead of us as his features retain their normal look of Discerni indifference.
“I’m not making it up,” I scowl, “there was magic in his hair.”
Desmond sighs in his saddle, “I believe you, Alexis. We both believe you. What we don’t understand is why you can see more than the average human is allowed. More than even us, as Discerni.”
We again.
Him and his brother.
They talk about me.
“Then tell me what you know about them,” I reiterate, “help me to understand.”
Desmond stays stoic atop his horse, his dark eyes not meeting mine as he sighs again.
“The Leviathans are brash and hasty in their decisions…” he replies after deep thought.
I nod in encouragement, already having the same impression.
“The one you met, Prince Yiannis, is the least level-headed of the three. He roams the Riverlands and Bulwark Plains, inching closer to our borders every day.”
“Hence, Fumagalli,” I nod in thought, “but what of Varon?”
“We have been building the same there,” Desmond replies quietly.
“And their summoning? I watched a man control Lord Daniel’s body without touching him.”
Desmond frowns, his dark eyes finally turning to mine. “As our summoning roots itself in the earth and ground around us, the Leviathans channel the elemental water in everything around them. The man you saw that night was summoning the water out of Lord Desmond’s body.”
Elder Father and Mother.
Desmond nods at the look of horror on my face. “We owe you a great debt, Alexis.”
“Can every Leviathan do that?” I ask, my voice heavy.
Having access to that kind of power is raw and unforgiving. It’s the kind of dark magic that I stumble upon when visiting Disce’s libraries. The books that detail that horrendous type of summoning should not exist, nor should the summoning be allowed.
“Only the strongest,” Desmond replies.
“And what of the other two Princes? You said there were three. Are they on the same level as Yiannis?”
“The oldest is,” he nods, “as are a handful of high-ranking family members that they keep close to their inner circle.”
“Which of the three is requesting an audience on behalf of their Kingdom? From what I’ve read, the oldest Prince is the one in charge. ”
“He is, but it’s the youngest that rides with the delegation. The Peacemaker, they call him in their lands… his summoning has yet to reveal itself, but it is rumored that he will outrank both of his older brothers in the years to come.”
My hands grip Millie’s reins tight, “if that’s true,” I frown, “then how is he still alive?”
Desmond looks at me with cool and calculating eyes, “questions like that get you a one-way travel to Master Informers, Lady Alexis.”
“I’m not a spy, Desmond.”
“No,” he smirks at my side, “you’re just too curious for your own good. Believe me when I tell you that if circumstances were different, I would have half a mind to recruit you to my ranks. Your mind is too inquisitive to stay in one place.”
“Thanks? I think.”
“You’re welcome,” his smirk broadens.
I shake my head with a frown, “it may be a compliment, but I can’t help but note that my curiosity has gotten me into more trouble than I care to admit.”
“That it has,” Desmond chuckles.
“So we have the youngest Prince playing politics, the middle playing enforcer, and the eldest making the rules?”
“From what I’ve garnered, yes. The eldest maintains his dominance at the capitol, but remains content to let his brothers navigate the complexities of his lands.”
“Have you been there? The capitol? Have you seen their court?”
Desmond shakes his head, “I have traveled to Livyatan twice but have yet to visit Lirah.”
“What have you seen? How do the Leviathans summon? What can they do with their element?”
Desmond glances to the road ahead, his features unreading.
“I have seen them call the waters of the Riverlands around them. Massive waves that can wipe out full groups of men and horses within a blink of an eye. I’ve seen them manipulate large bodies of water across their lands, directing the element to an otherwise dry area that used to be filled with sand and dunes.
They can change the flow of rivers and move their boats across lakes without the use of paddles… ”
My breath catches in my chest.
“I have men that have traveled even farther than what I have seen, men who report that their sands bristle with bodies of water at every corner. The Kingdom is not without a source for their summoning, and its lands flourish with an unyielding abundance of the element it covets…”
“The Leviathan coast also mimics what Pyre has at its western border. Both Kingdoms are surrounded by the sea at their west, a great body of water that spans across the horizon without an end in sight. And while both have boats larger than anything our fishing marketers could ever envision, the Leviathans are able to command the water around them with an easy finesse. I have not seen nor heard of a limit to the water power they wield. ”
“That’s…”
I don’t even have the words to reply to what he is describing.
“Powerful,” Desmond supplies, “they’re well-suited to their lands, just as we are here with our abundance of forest and earth. It’s quite perfect, if you think about it, the way the Kingdoms were divided to cater to each of the elements.”
“You said you have men in their lands? Is it hard getting them into Livyatan? Into any of the other Kingdoms?”
Desmond narrows his eyes in my direction, giving me another hard look. “Too inquisitive.”
I roll my eyes at the mockingly suspicious look coming from the Master Informer and watch him chuckle.
“It is hard getting my men into Livyatan. Our people look vastly different from the Leviathans, Discerni or humans, and the men I send into that Kingdom understand that they may not return. The other Kingdoms, not so much. Aireal is easy to navigate as they don’t host any magical protection to use against us, and the fair skin and dark hair of their people are easy to mimic.
Pyre openly accepts our men and welcomes them into their lands, but that is to be expected with the hundreds of years of alliance that we have with them. ”
“The man,” I take a deep breath, “your brother’s man. He said Aireal would be interested in me. Why?”
“That is something we hope to understand from our talks in Bardot, Lady Alexis.”
I nod at the finality in his tone and don’t press further. Whatever Desmond and Keane hope to learn in Knowledge will either come to fruition or not, but I’ll be damned if I sit on the side and wait around for answers. There’s just too much going on in the Old World to remain ignorant any longer.
Our group takes the Great Road south at a leisure pace, reaching the outskirts before Dalloway far after the sun sets below the horizon.
We get no beds or baths tonight in our travel as Desmond moves our group into a small area off the main road and into the Green Valley, the Master Informer promptly announcing that we’ll set up camp under the stars.
Barnes takes over the undying fire as the rest of us lay out our bedrolls.
It’s a clear spring night that requires no use for tents, the cool of the Court of Warriors getting warmer as we move south towards the Court of Knowledge.
I make my way to the twins and lay my bedroll next to Holis, the three of us sitting on top of them as we share our dinner.
Sutton is quick to join us with her brother, both of them letting us know that they’ll head farther south tomorrow once we pass through Dalloway.
They’ll take the fork in the road that leads to Dardar and check in with more of their quarries, but they do mention that they hope to meet up with our group in Bardot only a day after.
I smile at the two of them when they inquire about the Palisades and offer to show them around when they reach the capitol.
The more I talk to them, the more I come to like the brother and sister duo.
The two siblings are filled with a fire that calls to them both in an unrelenting ambition to pursue their gift.
They’ve been given a beautiful aspect of summoning and hone it perfectly, mining the lands and using that production to provide jobs and income to the people of Disce.
And the way they talk about building new and different structures throughout the Court of Warriors with the black granite is both progressive and inspiring, unlike anything ever described.
They’re strong and friendly Discerni, two beings that capitalize on their abilities for the better of those around them while still remaining humble.