Regent

Farsy and Bryn by his side, Kenward watched with grim determination as their deaths became increasingly likely. An insurmountable army of demons and dragons was slowly swallowing a mountain, the same mountain where he believed Catrin to be. There had been a battle; that he knew. He'd seen Catrin fight from afar before, and he recognized the light and the sound of it. The sensations were burned into his memory from one of the most dangerous times in his life. A sick feeling clung to him, and when he looked to Bryn and Farsy, he almost wished he hadn't brought them with him, so dour were their faces.

Only the presence of the regent dragons gave them any measure of safety, and Kenward wondered about that. Already the numbers had thinned as two dragons would leave, and only one would return. Of the last pair that had gone on patrol, based on Kenward's assumptions, neither had returned, and he knew they needed to face a future without the dragons' protection. But Catrin had put them in an impossible situation. She had been his friend for a very long time; she'd saved his life multiple times and put it in great danger just as many. He knew she did not leave him in this way out of malice, and he knew the world was at war and nowhere was safe, but none of that prevented him from being angry with Catrin. Seeing one's death rapidly approaching, it can be difficult to think it is all one's own fault. Far better to place blame on someone else, he thought, than to go to your grave feeling guilty.

'What are we gonna do?' Bryn asked. 'How do we even survive this? They're gonna come up here in larger numbers sooner or later, and then what do we do?'

Farsy turned back to where he saw Pelivor pacing. 'Maybe the boy can get us out of here on the Eel.'

'No wind in that valley,' Kenward said.

'I know but-' Farsy continued. Kenward cut him off with a look. Still, Farsy had sailed with Kenward most of his life, and he knew when not to keep his mouth shut. 'We got dragons, sir. Surely one o' them could get us in the air.'

'The dragons don't seem to care what I say,' Kenward said. 'They only seem to listen to Catrin, and I'm not sure they actually listen to her. Seems to me they're the ones doing the talking. The more I think about this whole situation, the less I like it. We can't get to Catrin, and it doesn't look like she's going to get back to us. For now, we need to proceed as if we're on our own.'

Bryn nodded sadly and a tear streaked his face. 'Blessings to my friend, Catrin,' he said softly, not meant for anyone else's ears, but by some trick of the wind, Kenward heard him nonetheless. 'Keep her safe.'

Kenward bowed his head and echoed the prayer. Farsy sniffed and wiped his eye. Then they headed back toward the peaceful vale, to a place that seemed trapped in time, unaffected by the war that raged so very nearby. Six dragons watched over them.

Go!

Catrin felt the queen's compulsion acutely, and it shocked her how close to the ferals the regent queen would stoop.

Fight them. Protect me with your life. Die with honor. You will be martyred, and your name will live on forever.

'Even if human beings cease to exist? No. I don't care for your bargain. I will, however, stay here with you and protect you until my dying breath. No species will cease to exist because of a decision I make.'

Fool! the queen boomed. Even the choice to not make a decision is a decision, and that choice will have consequences beyond your worst fear.

Screams echoed into the chamber as dragons and demons clashed around the openings that led to this vacuous hall. When the dragon queen faced Catrin again, there was real fear in her eyes and what looked like the recognition of one of her visions, as if she now saw the future and what she saw terrified her.

You've condemned us all! You think to protect us, but no one as daft as you could possibly save us now. If there were any other way, I'd not give this to you, but now I must leave the fate of the world in your hands, and though I despise you, I love this world more than life itself. Go, fool. Prove me wrong if you can. The bones have been tossed, and my fate is sealed, but I will do my best to buy you time.

A sound like leather on stone accompanied by rhythmic clicks announced demons in the hall, and Catrin knew time had indeed run out; now she could only act on instinct. The regent queen swung her massive body around to face the threat, and her tail smashed into a stack of stones against the outer wall of the cavern, which sent the rock flying into the demons. Bones snapped as the stone crushed rows of dark beasts. More rock collected near the entrance, constricting the demons to a narrow channel.

Catrin watched as the queen erected defenses on top of the bodies of demons, using the fallen monsters as building materials. She would have aided the queen, but the mighty serpent swung her head around to meet Catrin's eyes. Go!

This time Catrin allowed the compulsion since it only told her to turn and look. Her eyes found a huge, irregularly shaped hall that wound away from the main cavern. Glittering light danced on the floor and walls of the hall beyond, beckoning to Catrin with its beauty.

You will find what you need in there, Destroyer. Know that you have received gifts due to only the most noble, Dragon Slayer. Know that your actions will be remembered by all or by none based on your choices, World Render. May your fool of a dragon, the betrayer of his own kind, find solace in the emptiness that awaits him. You two are perfect together. Now, go!

Coerced as much by the darkness in her heart as the dragon queen's compulsion, Catrin retreated into the glittering hall. As she turned the corner, she saw things she would never have dreamed existed. There was a saddle, like the one she'd made, only hers was the crudest representation of this masterpiece. Every inch glittered in what Catrin knew was dragon ore; she could feel the energy radiating from it. Looking up, Catrin saw that enormous crystals made up the ceiling, and beyond lay open sky. Light poured in from the multifaceted crystals as they somehow gathered, focused, and amplified the light. The feeling of it was overwhelming for Catrin; never before had she felt so alive, so powerful. The sounds from the great hall kept her from falling into a trance, and she quickly turned to see what other wonders awaited. She could feel complex energies around her, energies more organized and structured than anything she'd experienced before.

From her left, she felt a pull that was elegant and poised, yet there was a potency to its touch that promised wondrous power. Catrin's eyes fell on something that looked like a herald globe, only a thousand times more evolved. It was beautiful. Reaching out her hand, Catrin moved toward the clear glass that housed what looked like a spider, its red and black body perfectly preserved in what had almost certainly once been molten glass. Catrin could not imagine how such a thing was created, and she hesitated before touching it, nervous caution temporarily stifling her desperate need to feel it. Another crash from the great hall and a bellow from the regent queen got Catrin moving again. Her hand closed around the globe, and pulses of power coursed over her body, enshrouding her in a latticework of power that undulated and moved like liquid.

Knowing the saddle would be of no use with the flightless queen, Catrin drew her sword and held the spider globe high as she charged back into the main hall, determined to save the queen of the regents.

Only one dragon remained to guard the vale, and Kenward knew that they would soon be completely unprotected. The regent dragons were losing; that much was clear. There was nothing he or anyone else could do about it. His ship was grounded high in the mountains, and even if they could get her into the air or water, she was neither sea- nor airworthy. It would take weeks to repair her. Kenward shook his head, cursing his own foolishness. Why worry about fixing a ship that would never sail again? He should be thinking of how to dismantle the ship and reassemble a smaller ship along the water. The thought nearly brought him to tears. Never before had he been faced with the prospect of dismantling his ship, and it was like thinking of taking his mother apart piece by piece and trying to reassemble her somewhere else. He knew he couldn't do it. If he were to build another ship, it would have to be built from what existed here on the Firstland.

In truth, there were plenty of raw materials on the Firstland; what Kenward lacked were the skilled hands of shipbuilders and the leisure to employ them. As it was, he had only the hands of sailors. There was not a safe place to be found except where they stood, and with only a single dragon remaining, he wondered how long this place would remain safe. Thunderclaps split the air, and the screams of demons followed. Everyone in the vale scrambled to high ground, peering into the war-torn valley beyond and trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Most already realized that what they heard was Catrin, and if she was still fighting, then there was still hope.