The North (Closed)

[KieranSoares]

"You may not want to kill Altair, but you'll have to if you mean to put Stila down," Eliza warned quietly. "Even if you manage to get past him, he'll hunt you constantly and forever if you kill her. And I warn you now out of respect for your hospitality: Arturo and I will help him. Stila is family."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Well, it's a good thing that they also call me dragonslayer." Fiona said as the doors of the castle opened and Markos appeared with Arturo. "Speak of the devil."

 

[KieranSoares]

Eliza stood the instant Arturo was revealed to the light of day. Kell hadn't been gentle with the man. Bruises dotted his arms, face, and neck as he emerged in a sleeveless tunic and dark trousers with his medium-length auburn hair all tossed to one side. He sported a full, thick beard and mustache that nearly hid his mouth. His temples and bits of his beard were streaked with silver, adding to a dashing and mature look ruined by a swollen eye, split lip, and multiple darkening bruises. The agents had taken away anything he might use as a weapon, even his hair tie and boots. He now walked barefoot over the grass being escorted by four men including one of Kell's most elite.

"Your Majesty," Kell's officer greeted her with a slight bow as they paused before her with Arturo in chains. "Karides said you wanted Oliveras brought out?"

Arturo stared straight ahead with no expression. He still stood tall and firm despite his weakened state. He didn't look at Eliza and she didn't look at him. It wasn't unlike how some of the royal couples in the family would avoid showing any emotion around one another in public. Outsiders weren't to know their personal lives.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Yes, I did." Fiona said as she glanced at Arturo and Eliza. "You can leave him. We have some things that we need to discuss. Lady Eliza and I have an understanding."

She watched the hesitation cross the guards as they considered what she was asking. "Call for Lord Schaller if it makes you feel better. There are things that he and his dragon must do without you looming over them."

 

[KieranSoares]

The agents all glanced at the officer in the group, whose brows furrowed as he frowned. But he nodded and they all let go of Arturo, but they left him chained. They all backed off, but they didn't want to go too far. It was only once the agents were out of earshot that Arturo finally looked at Fiona with a focused, neutral stare.

"Can I help you, Your Majesty?" He muttered formally.

 

[heartofcourage]

"No." Fiona said as Arturo looked at her. "And there's no need for formalities. You are here for Eliza, just as I promised her."

 

[KieranSoares]

Finally, Arturo looked up at Eliza and she met his eyes. While her posture stayed neutral, her dark, slitted pupils widened, letting on her internal wave of anger. "Corazón," she greeted quietly, almost professionally.

"Cariña," he muttered in return. "You are meant to return home if your Rider is lost."

"I know. I refused."

Arturo glanced back at Fiona and faced her fully. He wasn't going to say or show much more in front of an enemy. "Is this all you wanted to see, Rider Queen, or did you have a goal? We aren't going to go running into each other's arms in enemy territory if that's what you're trying to achieve." His tone couldn't have been more professional nor sarcastic.

 

[heartofcourage]

“Your dragon was distressed. I don’t expect anything from the both of you, Oliveres. Your ordeal isn’t with me.” Fiona said just as calmly. “I thought that it would be less cruel to allow Eliza a moment with you than to continue to deny her.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"You're a Northern leader and I'm working for your enemies. Pardon my suspicion." Arturo turned from her and as he reached up, Eliza lowered her head and pressed her nose into his hand. "Estás bien, cariña? Te tienen atrapado aquí?"

"No. Parece que estoy siendo tratada como una invitada."

"Apropiado, considerando la reputación de Blackstone." Arturo glanced back at Fiona, looking her up and down. "I'll admit, the way people talk about you, I expected either an angel or a demon. But I suppose legends are always bigger than the people they're about." When Eliza laid down, Arturo took a seat on her arm and kept a hand on her scales. "More than anything, you Northerners confuse me. You seem dead-set on your goals, but you go about them in the least efficient way possible. You capture prisoners, then let them outside near their dragons where they could escape. You hesitate to take what's yours because one man is in enemy hands. You keep stalling and granting mercies. You're going to end up stabbed in the back."

 

[heartofcourage]

“Hmmm…and will it be you holding the dagger?” Fiona asked Arturo. “You wouldn’t make it past my dragon if you tried to flee. Not in your condition.”

“Twenty years ago, I might have agreed with you. I would have burned all of Scotland and Spain to the ground to find your daughter, but age has given me perspective. They believe that they can pay you off to fly away and not come back, but that’s not what you want. In fact, I’m not quite sure what you want. So…why don’t you tell me?”

She stared at him for a moment as he was silent before she gave him a nod. “Lady Eliza. You were wrong in assuming that Hesperus lived in Markos. He resides in me now. He’ll help me find what I wish to know…no matter how unpleasant it will be.”

She stared at the dragon in front of her, going into a trace as she entered Eliza’s mind and search for what she wished to know.

 

[KieranSoares]

Eliza recoiled, then relaxed as her mind was swallowed up by a titanic force, rendering her physical body inert. Aside from a slight opening to Schaller, Fiona hadn't connected with anyone since the battle with Hesperus. Something had dramatically changed. Reven was distant, but something bigger, stronger, and much more deadly was waiting at the door to Fiona's mind. The moment she opened it just a crack, that force barged through like a tsunami. She could nearly visualize massive brass claws tearing through whatever minor defenses Eliza had til everything was laid bare. Fiona could see the dragon's entire life stretched out before her like a tapestry that was free to peruse, touch, and destroy if she so chose. In the background loomed the ancient figure of her fallen foe, pacing alongside Fiona at her beck and call instead of against her.

She could see a hatchling in the hands of a princely-looking man who shared several features with Arturo, but with much darker, shorter hair and a fine waxed mustache. Little Eliza was especially tiny, hatched a bit too early and no bigger than a newborn foal. The man inspected her, found her suitable, and handed her back to a similarly rust-colored female whom he regarded with professional respect.

Fiona saw a young Eliza slogging through brutal training like a little soldier throughout what should've been a childhood. She was small but quick and vicious, and her memories turned into a long strand of wide travel highlighted with sudden, deadly violence here and there. She was a professional killer and so was her first Rider. Then that Rider died somewhere along the Mediterranean, and Eliza went home conflicted. She felt no great loss, but was now alone.

The lordly man returned, much older and dressed in finery. Eliza served as a guardian around a rich estate and met a teenaged Arturo there who was also often richly dressed, but also came sneaking out at night to carouse in the local village. Sometimes Eliza would catch him, but she let him go. When Arturo started running around with a pretty village girl, Eliza kept their secret. Then one day, a still-young Arturo came to the estate looking haunted and carrying a newborn baby. Eliza watched him seek out the lord of the manor- Arturo's father- and explain what had happened. Arturo had fallen for a commoner and she'd died giving birth to a daughter. The lord told him to get rid of the baby and go back to his duties. Arturo refused, and his father tried to take the girl. It came to blows, then to swords. Arturo disemboweled his own father in his own hall and was arrested. Eliza saw it all through the open doors. It was her testimony and that of the servants that saved Arturo from the gallows. His father had attacked him first.

Arturo was suddenly the new lord of the manor, a new father, the master of his family's guild, and alone. He held everything together as best he could for a decade, until his own king came to seize his land and put someone else in his place. It was a betrayal that Eliza didn't understand. Arturo had been a good, loyal subject as far as she knew. With a young daughter to protect and a guild of people relying on his leadership, Arturo bowed out of his noble holdings gracefully. Then, his king exiled him from the lands of Castile. Arturo fled to Galicia in Leon and managed to establish a new home in an abandoned castle in the northeast part of the region, where he managed to claw victory from immense defeat. His guild flourished, his daughter became its finest Rider, and he presided over it all as master. Someone else held the official title of guild master- a figurehead who represented them favorably to the King of Leon- but Arturo was the man on the proverbial throne. And his focus was ever turned eastward toward Castile: to the king who betrayed him, to the homeland taken from him, and to the grave of the girl he'd once loved.

Just as Fiona found what she was looking for, Arturo slammed into her. With his limbs bound, he simply threw his body into her in an attempt to break her concentration. While she'd been lost in Eliza's mind, the dragon had slowly blacked out and collapsed. When Fiona's hold slackened, Eliza's breath grew dangerously shallow.

"Déjalo ir! La estás matando!" Arturo snarled, trying to get his chains around Fiona's neck but failing as his wrists were linked to a loop about his waist. From a distance, the agents that had backed off came sprinting to help.

 

[heartofcourage]

The still healing ribs in her chest screamed in pain as Arturo slammed into her, pushing her to the ground to break the bond between Eliza and herself. She let out a cry of pain as the breath exploded painfully from her chest, a white haze settling over her entire body. She let out a growl as her eyes narrowed. They weren't her eyes anymore. She was more dragon than human in that moment, Hesperus threatening to burst through the surface in the most vicious way.

When the guards ripped Arturo off her, she could suddenly breathe, the weight off her abused chest. She pushed away any hands that reached for her, growling at them to leave her alone. She didn't want to be touched just then.

"Markos!" She wheezed out. "Attend to her."

 

[KieranSoares]

Markos was already on his way to Eliza's side, sliding to his knees beside her maw and pressing his head to hers in an attempt to focus in. "Come now," he murmured softly. "Come back..." He continued muttering to her in his native tongue and strained to move her head in an attempt to shake her. He didn't want her to go still, or she might never move again. Arturo fought against his captors not to get at Fiona, but to get to Eliza.

"Let him go," the agent lieutenant barked, and Arturo was allowed to rush to his dragon's side. He summoned up enough strength in his panic to give her head a shove, and she suddenly took a deep breath. Her own trance had broken just shy of making her physical brain shut down. She was still unconscious, but alive.

"Maldito monstruo! Pensé que protegías a los dragones!" Arturo snarled at Fiona, only for Markos to stand and motion for the agents to take Arturo away.

"We need peace," Markos murmured. "Have the dragon moved somewhere quiet."

The agents retreated and Markos paused about ten feet from Fiona. He knew something incredibly dangerous was going on. He slowly sat down, his focus solely on her. He didn't push or pry. He let her have a moment to recover and catch her breath.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona heard Arturo's words and closed her eyes against the heat of anger that burned through her.

"Wait." She called before they dragged him away entirely. "I'm a monster? Truly? Your partner informed me that you would chase me to the ends of the earth and kill me if I harmed Altair and Stila. You, yourself, called me weak for not taking a stand. Your daughter has abused me at my lowest and abused my family at theirs. I ask for the answers that can put an end to all of this and you refuse to give them. So, I ask you...who is truly the monster in this? Don't you dare for a moment believe that your partner's fate is my fault. You had the choice, Arturo. I gave that choice to you."

She pushed herself to her feet, glaring at him with those reptilian eyes. "Do you truly wish for me to be that monster? I will. I'll behead her right now and hang her head inside your cell."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Give me a blade and we'll see who beheads who," Arturo snapped back, struggling against the agents when Fiona faced him. "I don't give a damn what you do to me, but she came here peacefully and you nearly killed her! Who knows what state she'll be in after this!"

"Fiona, I need you to walk away and calm down," Markos warned quietly, having put himself between her and Eliza. "Don't do something you'll regret."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Tell Kell the king of Castile has a bounty on his head." Fiona murmured as Markos warned her to walk away. "He might be interested to know that Arturo is here with us."

With that, she stalked away, the anger at a fever pitch. She hadn't felt this angry since Royer had kidnapped her father.

 

[KieranSoares]

Markos remained where he was until other dragons came to get Eliza and move her. He watched Fiona go, knowing he'd need to talk with her later about what was happening. But even as Fiona stormed away, she wasn't alone. Even if she couldn't hear the great claws close behind or the inferno raging above her, she could feel it. Hesperus was there. Or at least, the part of him that still haunted her while the dragon himself had been released from a sick brain and ancient body.

You take orders from madmen? The presence growled deep at the back of her mind. Defiance should be punished. You are Rider Queen.

 

[heartofcourage]

"You are a madman." Fiona muttered as Hesperus made his presence known. "And I do not take orders from you. If you cannot respectfully stay quiet and allow Reven to come through, I will get rid of you."

 

[KieranSoares]

You would have better luck removing your own brain. The madness didn't relent, pressing in and interrupting her connection to her original patron. She could almost feel the rot of the specter, his own disease flaking the edges of his psyche away but never reducing his size and weight in Fiona's mind. But as Fiona got away from the object of her anger, the rage cooled slightly. Hesperus- or whatever the wraith was- remained impatient but faded into the background waiting for his next opportunity.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona didn't speak again to Hesperus, walking until she came upon a water source. Kneeling, she splashed cold water on her face to calm her nerves, blowing out a deep breath as she struggled to shake off the terrible things that had just happened.

 

[KieranSoares]

It was only once the beast fully retreated to bide his time that Fiona felt any strand of connection back to Reven, but it was distant. It had been so ever since Fiona had struck Hesperus down. It was as if Fiona and Reven were stranded on separate islands, able to see each other but unable to brave the roiling sea to reunite properly.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona turned and pressed her back against the rock wall of the well, sinking to sit in the dirt. Leaning her head back against the wall, she closed her eyes and concentrated on Reven. The distance was so far, much like it was when she first had met the elder dragon. There wasn't any real way to reach her and, suddenly, Fiona knew what Joachim had felt like in his final moments. Controlled and alienated by a beast that had been consumed by madness.

"I won't be a vessel for your madness." Fiona muttered to herself, letting out a long sigh as she finally opened her eyes.

 

[KieranSoares]

With the presence quieted and this particular corner of the courtyard mostly removed from the everyday bustle, Fiona had a moment of peace. The people who worked in the castle and around it were simply going about daily chores and normal lives as though the struggles of the nobles had little to do with them. Soldiers and agents patrolled, stable grooms brought horses and drakes out for exercise, and a few of the staff's children ran about chasing one another. Despite the war, it all seemed so normal.

After a while, Fiona could see Soma when he emerged from the castle with a confident stride. He was flanked by an assistant and an agent, both older than him but neither matching his level of responsibility and the pressure on his shoulders. Drakes were brought to the trio and a few soldiers with their own mounts joined to escort the young Prince out into the city. While he took most meetings in the castle, he went out occasionally to look over defenses, help solve problems, and dole out orders. He was already the North's strategist, but now he was standing in for his father and he was doing Sam's work exactly the way Sam would've: with absolute focus and an undeniable authority.

But before he left the courtyard, he glanced his mother's way. She could feel his mind reach out, not to invade but just to check in. He always did at least once a day, even if they didn't see each other face-to-face.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona glanced in her son's direction, cutting him off as he tried to reach out to her. She didn't want to risk Hesperus corrupting their connection. She didn't want the dragon to get his claws into her son, the man who was responsible for all of the plans for the north. It was a lonely existence, but she needed to protect her family.

 

[KieranSoares]

Soma slowed briefly, but quietly continued on with his escort when it was clear Fiona wasn't letting anyone near. He didn't want to push, and there was too much on their shoulders to stop and check in properly.