The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (77 page)

The quicksilver dragon god paused, surveyed the party of mortals, and addressed them as a whole.  “Your activities here today have been very valuable.  The exchange with The Triax of concise visual and audible histories of warfare was a brilliant idea, and has indeed led to a much greater understanding of each other and our manners of warfare.  When the Assembly meets tomorrow with the leaders of The Triax, we will indeed be much more prepared to begin integrating our war-fighting capabilities.

“And by the way, one of your assumptions is incorrect.  There are only two nations on Kellaran who are making any serious preparations for warfare in the void; being Hilia, which includes the nations of Serminak, and Xervian Draconia.  Somonik here and his mate Grakonexikaldoron have learned your void survival spells from Povon, and they and other Draconian researchers have improved them greatly while modifying them to be more specific to the requirements of dragons.

“Xervian Draconia will be fully prepared to live and fight in the void, and they will require no vessels to do so.  I suggest you learn what they’re doing and teach it to the Serminaki Draconians.  Your preparations are very well done, and your vessels will allow most of the other races on Kellaran to fight in the void with great effectiveness.  We will indeed defend what is ours.

“As usual, you have exceeded expectations.  So I don’t mind telling you that I find it very refreshing to see you all bite off far more than you could swallow and then choke on it, in the matter of Linking with the Triax.  It is the first time that all of you have publicly failed completely, and I think it will do you all some good.  Your children in particularly may become slightly less irritatingly smug about their abilities.”

“Perhaps we could all stand to be a bit less egotistical, Amirgath, including you.” Fire stated with a nasty little laugh.  “After all, what were you doing when you were my age?  I imagine you were like most dragons at seven years of age; having the intelligence of a lizard, and still incapable of being trained to not crap on your own food.”

“First Mauve, and our honored guests of The Triax.” Mark hurriedly called, cutting off whatever outraged retort Amirgath had been about to make.  “We thank you very much for your attendance and your participation here today.  It’s been wonderful having you, and I think we were pretty productive.  But it’s been a long day, and since our attempts at Linking with you didn’t work, we have nothing else planned with you for today.

“We look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow at the meeting of The Assembly of The Just Alliance.”

“We thank you for having us here, and for sharing your history.” First Mauve responded.  “We will indeed see you tomorrow at the meeting.  It would be helpful if you had another presentation prepared then, detailing as much as possible your present military preparations, including the workings, weaponry, and performance of your void vessels, and the new capabilities of the Xervian Draconians.”

“We’ll have it ready.”  Mark nodded with a smile.

“Farewell until tomorrow.” First Burgundy said with an eerily similar nod.

“Farewell until tomorrow.” Mark agreed with a grin, and then The Triax were gone.

Kragorram ended the Observation Link.

Mark immediately cast a network of spells that he’d learned from Yazadril over the beach and the area around it, then modified it with psionic techniques he’d learned from Quewanak and his children, absolutely insuring that no mortal could eavesdrop on them in any way.  He put so much power into it that he doubted many of the gods could penetrate it either.

Then he turned to Amirgath with a glare of tightly controlled rage.  “Fire was rude and insulting to you, but you were rude and insulting to us first, and I don’t expect my children to have to take that in front of all of Kellaran and all of the Triax during a diplomatically important event without giving some back.  I don’t care if you’re the most powerful being on this world, we don’t have to take that from you.  I want your apology, right now, or you will no longer be welcome in any of the territories we rule.  Being legally barred from entry for just cause, your vow of justice on The Truthstone of Falgaroth will enforce my decision.”

For a moment, it seemed that the air between them was charged with the power of Amirgath’s furious anger.  He crouched and gathered himself in an attack stance and took a deep breath, and they all knew he was instinctively readying his fire.  Then he slowly let it out, and met Mark’s glare of rage with his own, and spoke with a dangerous, exaggerated patience, in a harsh, throbbing growl.  “I am as yet unaccustomed to having to consider the tender sensibilities of mortals.  And, having considered the repercussions of every possible response I might make, I can think of no way of destroying you utterly without it leading to some very inconvenient consequences.  So.  I.  Apologize.”

With that said, he was gone.

Everyone left on the beach consciously relaxed a bit as the tension of the moment dissipated.

Fire turned to the observers.  “Quewanak, Somonik, would you be so kind as to pass on a communication for me?  I want all dragons, mortal and immortal, to know that I realize that what I said to Amirgath was insensitive to all dragons, and I apologize to all of them.  As father said, I felt a need to give a little back to Amirgath after what he’d just said, and I wish I could have thought of something at the moment that was more specific to him.  I’m sorry.”

“Well said.” Somonik told her.  “I will indeed see to it that all mortal Draconians are aware of your apology.”

“The gods already know.” Quewanak stated with a bit of a chuckle.  “It doesn’t take long to spread news among them.”

“By the Source, that was all rather magnificent!” Emperor Osbald grinned as he helped himself to another helping of the excellent feast.  “I might have had the courage to stand up to him as you and your father did, but I wouldn’t swear to it.  I’m not intimidated by many, but he’s definitely one of them!”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Visinniria chuckled.  “Amirgath is quick to anger, but just as quick to dismiss it afterward.  It’s not so much that he considers mortals or humans to be beneath him, as much as he considers everyone else to be beneath him.  The second-eldest dragon god gets no more respect from Amirgath than you or I do.  He’s just like that.  A lot of us are quite amused that he was forced to apologize.  Before he swore on the Truthstone, he would never have done so.

“Thanks again, Falgaroth.” She added with a giggle as she gave the huge blue unicorn god a rub on his knee.

“The Truthstone continues to produce unexpected benefits.”
Falgaroth noted with a humorous whinny. 
“Amirgath likes to be at the center of everything, so it would be intolerable to him to be excluded from here.  Hilia is the only racially neutral ground, and home of the Key, and this is where leaders and rulers meet when they want to achieve something practical in a relaxed and comfortable setting.  These informal meetings on this beach are the crux and capitol of international and interracial diplomacy.  Amirgath would rather chew rocks than be barred from here.”

“You all make me want to slap you.” Quewanak stated.  “I believe that is the correct turn of speech in this language to describe my emotions; I do not literally want to slap you.

“Amirgath acts like he is better than everyone else, because he is, in many important ways.

“Until The Triax came, all our gods were considered to have equivalent power.  They could each destroy the world, so any excess ability beyond that was considered superfluous from a strategic standpoint.

“But now the gods of The Triax are teaching us to fight at their side, in the void.  They train us for battles wherein each individual god’s every attack could not only kill everything on a world or destroy it down to pieces the size of gravel, it could destroy reality in a volume the size of a world, leaving a tear in reality and erasing the world within from existence.

“In our training with The Triax we have learned what many of us have long suspected; Amirgath is the mightiest of us.  The Triax say he is the single most powerful being they have ever encountered.

“When Amirgath was a mortal, he was the very best in every field of endeavor in Draconian life at that time.  And he looked then as he does now; his appearance is not a spell or a divine attribute, it is natural and owing to the fact that his body is completely and uniformly covered in silver scales, each almost too small to see with a naked eye.  He was the quicksilver dragon from the day he was hatched, and it is universally agreed that he is the most perfectly formed male dragon who has ever lived.  Even all of you who are not dragons must admit that he has the most magnificent appearance of any being you have perceived.  He was unmatched in power, fire, strength, ferocity, and tactical intelligence, and that has not changed.  He was the first Draconian god, and he has been the patron deity of Draconian rulers and leaders for many hundreds of millions of years.

“I was the eldest mortal who ever lived, I ruled Draconia, and now I am a god myself.  Yet I still consider every moment that I spend in Amirgath’s presence to be an honor.  You should show some respect.”

Mark shrugged.  “He disrespected us first, and publicly, and at an important event.  If he’d done it in private it would have been different.”

“We do respect him a lot, Falgaroth and I.” Visinniria laughed.  “And we know he respects us.  But we
show
him the same level of respect and courtesy that he shows us.  There may not be a single derogatory term in the Draconian language that he has not used to insult me with at one time or another.

“I think that your problem is that emotionally, you still haven’t gotten past religion.  You worshipped him for many millions of years.  Maybe you don’t still worship him, but your pattern of emotional reaction to him is still deeply ingrained.”

“Perhaps.” Quewanak admitted.

“
And,
” Visinniria insistently continued, “While it’s true that Amirgath has the highest scores in our exercises with the Triax gods, there are perhaps twenty others whose scores are consistently behind his by less than one-twentieth, including myself and all the other races’ gods of war.  His superiority is not decisive, and he is no longer improving most quickly.  It’s highly likely that Dojitak and Blethian; the dragon and unicorn gods of war, will pass Amirgath within the week.”

“Perhaps.” Quewanak chuckled, clearly skeptical of the claim.

“At
any
rate,” Alilia interrupted, more than a bit irritated with the conversation, “We still have work to do before tomorrow.  We need a presentation on our void craft, the Draconians need a presentation on their void-proofing techniques, every nation should prepare a quick presentation on their latest developments in warcraft.  And the gods of both pantheons should prepare a presentation on the training they’re doing together.”

“I agree.”
Tithian stated with a toss of her mane. 
“It seems this occasion draws to a close, and I’m glad I observed it.  Thank you.

“We will take our leave, and see you tomorrow at the Assembly.”

Soon the six remaining observers had said their farewells and departed.

Six and Kragorram only required a few minutes to compose their new presentation on their voidcraft.  Then they all returned to working on their own projects for another hour and more.

Eventually Alilia stood and stretched, then surveyed the silently concentrating group.  “We all need a break.” she decided.  “I’m inviting you to go flying with me among the great trees of Heartwood, capitol city of The People of Life and my home for most of my life.  It’s a beautiful place to fly, night or day, and I miss it.  I’d like to stop in at my home there too.”

“Sure, that sounds like fun.” Mark agreed with a grin as he stood and Sent the scroll he was reading back to his desk in the cottage.

“It sure does!” Val agreed as she flew up a few meters while stretching and pirouetting.

“I think it’s unanimous!” Povon agreed.  “Though I think we three dragons had better assume smaller Simulacrums, if we’re going to be chasing elves through a forest without wrecking the place.  I think about a two meter wingspan…  There.”

“All right, we’re ready.” Kragorram stated as he and Karz did the same.

“Then follow me!” Alilia laughed, and Translocated.

They appeared around her a moment later, over a hundred meters in the air.  Mid-afternoon sunlight dappled the leaves of the great trees all around them.

“Ah, home.” Alilia grinned as she slowly spun in the air and surveyed the busy city around her.  “It’s hard to believe I was here less than two weeks ago in real time.”

Elves and a few from other races, mostly humans, strolled or ran along the many narrow paths and broad thoroughfares that were suspended from the trees all around them, and almost as many flew among the many birds.  The homes and businesses in the trees all around them bustled with activity.  As always, the incredibly vibrant life-force of the world’s lushest forest seemed almost palpable in the air.

“I feel that, a bit.” Val smiled.  “The feeling that this is home, that is.”

“Of course you do, my sweet!” Alilia laughed as she flew over and gave her daughter a spinning hug.  “It’s in our blood!”

“Hmm.  It’s funny I didn’t really feel that in The Nine Valleys when we went there to charge up.” Six commented.

“I never spent much time in Laylas Valley, and even less a kilometer above it.” Talia thoughtfully stated as they all took in the sights around them.  “And it was night, which makes things seem different.  I’m sure when we visit First Valley you’ll get the same feeling.  Though I think it more likely that the emotion is induced in you through us.  It may be inherently psionic, or just transferred by normal empathy from parent to child, but I doubt it’s carried in the blood.”

“I definitely got that feeling in The Lair in Serminak.” Karz noted.

“And all three of you should get it if we ever go to Shinosa Valley, where I grew up.” Mark told his children with a smile.  “Though of course I’m sure it’s pretty different now from when I last saw it.”