Dragon emperor 16, p.3
Dragon Emperor 16, page 3
“Isabella, you need to explain the strangers you brought to our home,” her father said as he supported her mother. “This is all outrageous!”
“Father, this is Lord Evan,” Isabella answered as she stepped past them to stand next to me. “These are my parents, Rocia and Mel. Mother, Papa, I have joined Lord Evan’s family, and we came to Yrosa on a mission.”
“His family?” Her mother’s eyes widened as she sagged even more against her husband. “Oh, gods, our daughter is a consort.”
“It’s not like that,” I chuckled. “I promise. We do, however, have a mission to complete, so thank you for allowing us into your home.”
“You didn’t give us much choice,” Mel muttered as he looked down at his feet. “You appeared in the attic.”
“That’s true,” I agreed as Ravi, Miraya, and Laika stifled their smiles. “But nevertheless, here we are. Now, back to this burglar thing. I’m going to ask them why they came here, but I need you to be certain you don’t have anything they would want.”
“Lord Evan, you seem like the type of person who can tell if a person is being dishonest,” Mel replied with a smirk. “So, please, understand that when I say we have nothing of value, I mean it.”
“Strange,” I murmured as I pulled the metal disk from my pocket. “Do you know what this is?”
As I held it out for them to see, I realized it was actually a very intricately designed piece of art. It featured dotted lines and swirls similar to Isabella’s tattoos, which I noticed her parents had as well, and at various intervals along the edge were small blue stones that reminded me of turquoise back on Earth. It was an exquisite design, and the Nepins’ stared at it with complete disbelief.
“It’s ours,” Isabella’s mother finally said. “Of course, we know what it is.”
“Well, the Mesic had it when I took him down,” I explained. “So, is there any reason they’d be trying to steal it?”
“It’s priceless.” Her father took the disk from my hand and gently laid it in his palm. “A family heirloom from back when my ancestors left the fairy tribe. How did they even know we had this?”
“I guess I’ll add that to my list of things to find out.” I shrugged and started to turn around to face my prey before I paused and glanced at the Nepins. “You may not want to see how I get my information.”
“Oh, gods,” Rocia groaned and turned to press her face to Mel’s chest.
He nodded to me and held his wife’s head against his body, so she couldn’t see.
Then I turned and stood in front of the three intruders.
“Alright, who’s decided to be honest with me?” I asked in a thunderous voice.
“N-No one,” the snake Demi-Human stuttered and crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to dangle above me. “Y-You might have s-some magic, b-but you can’t m-make us talk.”
“Some magic?” I quirked an amused eyebrow at the snake. “Here’s how this goes. I ask you a question, and my magic pulls it out. How easy or hard it is on you depends on if you fight the truth or not. Got it?”
“Whatever,” the Demi-Human sneered.
“Why did you come here?” I asked as I called on the nature magic I learned from the Sola fairies.
I felt the surge of energy from the ground below me as nature answered my call. The blue-green coils of magic burst from my hands and rocketed toward the snake’s open mouth, and he gasped as they slipped inside and reached for the truth that dwelled inside him.
“To steal something!” he screeched when the coils pulled it out.
“Wow, so tough,” the human snorted. “I bet it didn’t even hurt.”
“Here, you can have a turn.” I smirked as I turned around and held out my hands. “What did you come to steal?”
My nature magic poured from my hands and ripped between the human’s tight lips as his eyes widened in fear. Then he fought the spell.
His screams of pain and rage echoed around the dining room, and he fought at the bindings as he tried to resist the magic. I knew the magic would pull at the truth until he finally released it, and he was stubborn enough to withstand the pain for a few seconds, but he finally gave in.
“The ancestry relic!” the human screamed as blood dribbled over his lips. “That thing you were holding, that’s what we came for.”
“Why?” I demanded.
He hesitated, and I raised my palms again to use my magic, but he shook his head.
“No, I’ll tell you, just don’t do that again, okay?” he begged. “We aren’t the only ones here, I know that. And we were all given an item and a location. That’s it.”
“Who gave you the information?” I pressed as I leaned in closer. “I need to know all of it.”
“Just some guy!” the young man wailed.
“None of us know his name,” the Mesic offered. “He never told us. He just gives us an item and a place, we take it, he pays us. That’s the deal.”
“You’ve done this before?” Rocia finally lifted her head in shock.
“A few times.” The Mesic shrugged and looked away. “We only tie people up when they’re home. We can usually sneak in and out, no problem.”
I eyed the captives for a moment before I motioned for everyone else to follow me into the dining room.
“I think this may be exactly what we needed,” I mused.
“For what?” Alyona wondered.
“For our way in with the nobles,” I explained. “Listen, if they’ve been doing this for a while without getting caught, then we’re the only ones who know about them. So, we can present them to this Noble Council and use that connection to find the person we came here for.”
“Who did you come here for?” Mel asked with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t worry about that,” I replied. “You store your family relic somewhere safe, and we’ll handle the rest.”
“Well, I think we should go with you to city hall,” Rocia interjected.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Laika argued and frowned.
“If you think the Noble Council will simply take you at your word, you are mistaken,” she insisted. “You’ll need more than our daughter to verify what you’re telling them.”
I mulled that over for a few moments before I glanced at Alyona, who nodded her agreement.
“Okay, you can come with us, but don’t get close to the prisoners,” I warned. “Only one of them has some kind of magical abilities, but I don’t know enough about the other two to trust them. Deal?”
“Of course, Lord Evan,” Rocia agreed.
“I’ll go take care of this and be right back,” Mel said as he held up the ancestry relic before he disappeared up the stairs.
“Let’s get these three ready to travel,” I chuckled.
A few minutes later, Naomi and Alyona had all three men bound and ready to float behind us as we made our way out the door.
When we walked outside, I got my first real glimpse of the city of Yrosa. The buildings were made of a dark red wood, and they reminded me of log cabins back on Earth. Most of them were at least two stories high with the same tall windows I’d noticed in Isabella’s parents’ house, and the road was merely flattened dirt surrounded by lush green grass around each building. It looked like a campground in the middle of a forest, though the trees within the city were sparse. I figured they used the trees for their houses, since the trunks were the same deep-red color.
We followed Isabella and her parents through the city, and dozens of blue-skinned citizens watched us with bewildered caution. No one dared to ask what was going on, and I could see Isabella hadn’t been exaggerating about the few number of visitors to Yrosa. The people seemed absolutely shocked to see anyone besides other Nepins within its walls, and the three captives who floated along behind us probably didn’t help.
A few minutes later, we arrived at a long wooden building with a sheet metal-type roof and green double doors in the center. Two Nepins stood guard on either side, and they eyed us with wariness as we approached.
“State your business,” one of them said and tightened the grip on his staff.
“My name is Lord Evan, and this is my wife, Princess Alyona,” I declared with a sweeping gesture toward her. “We need to see the Noble Council.”
“Your Highness!” the other guard gasped as he dropped to one knee, and the other guard quickly followed suit. “My lord, it is an honor to have you both in our city, but I’m afraid the council is currently in session.”
“Good, then they’re all here.” I smirked as I continued toward the door. “We have a few things to discuss.”
The guards looked at each other skeptically before they pushed open the doors to let us inside, and I breezed past them and looked around the wide-open room. The wood floors were polished to a perfect sparkle, and the walls were devoid of any kind of decoration. There were two doors on the wall to the left, one door straight ahead, and another set of double-doors to the right.
“They meet in there,” Isabella said as she pointed to the double-doors. “I’ve never, um, been inside, so I don’t know if you need to, ah, knock or something?”
“Nah,” I chuckled as I strode across the room and threw the doors open. “Good morning, Noble Council!”
Two female Nepins and five males whirled around to face us with looks of shock and fear. They all seemed to be around the same age as Isabella’s parents, and they had the same series of dots and lines tattooed on their bodies.
“What is the meaning of this?” one of the women shrieked and pressed a blue hand to her chest. “Guards!”
“They let us in, don’t worry,” I assured her. “I’m Lord Evan, and this is my wife, Princess Alyona. I’m sure you can see why they allowed us to interrupt your meeting.”
“Oh!” One of the Nepin men slid out of his chair to bow to us. “You grace us with your presence, Your Highness.”
I motioned for Naomi and Alyona to deposit the captives on the floor, and the trio landed with a thump.
“You seem to have a bandit problem,” I declared. “These are three we caught in Rocia and Mel’s home this morning.”
“Bandits?” one of the other men echoed with a frown. “How do you know that if you’ve only just arrived? We’ve never had bandits here!”
“Well, we caught them in the act,” I retorted. “I can’t help it if they were dumb enough to try to steal from the house we portaled into. And they said they aren’t working alone.”
“This is insane!” another woman screeched. “How do we know you’re even who you say you are? Maybe you’re the ones who brought them here!”
“You think we brought our own bandits?” Naomi arched a magenta eyebrow at the woman. “That’s ridiculous.”
“If we brought them, why would we deliver them to you?” Laika pointed out as her furry gray ears twitched in annoyance.
“To gain our trust,” the woman insisted and crossed her arms over her chest. “We obviously wouldn’t easily trust outsiders.”
“And what would be our goal?” I was almost amused with this ridiculous line of questioning.
“To steal from the Noble Council families, of course,” she retorted. “We are the ones with multiple treasures, after all.”
“Then you should probably do an inventory check,” I chuckled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the woman demanded.
“These intruders told us they have been here before and successfully left with the items they stole,” Alyona explained in a gentle tone. “If you have as many treasures as you indicated, they may have already taken something without you noticing.”
“Oh, gods,” the council woman groaned and slumped back into her chair.
“Besides, the princess of our country wouldn’t be involved in such matters,” one of the Nepin men said in a matter-of-fact voice before he turned to look at Alyona. “Right, Your Highness?”
“Indeed,” she murmured and offered him a smile. “Neither would my husband, though apparently, word has not reached your city about the wonderful work he’s already done for Rahma. If you had, you would never suspect him, either.”
“We can confirm Lord Evan helped us dispose of these criminals,” Mel said as he stepped forward to stand next to me. “He and his, ah, companions arrived just in time to prevent them from stealing our family heirloom.”
“And we made sure to bring the culprits straight here, so we could work with the council to find the rest of their group before anyone else is hurt or robbed,” Isabella added.
“I see,” the female council member murmured as she rubbed her chin in thought. “This is certainly an interesting situation, unlike any other we’ve experienced.”
“I can understand that,” I said with a smile. “I can promise you I have no evil plans for your city. As the son-in-law of the king, I’m only here to help.”
The nobles began to lean in and whisper to each other, and I started to tune in when Miraya grabbed my hand, so I turned away from the council to listen to her instead.
“My lord,” she said in a soft voice. “My sister, she’s here.”
“In the room?” I asked.
“No.” The spirit shook her head. “But close by. I can’t quite reach her to ask where exactly. I’m not sure why yet.”
“Like maybe the sword is hidden,” I mused.
Someone in this room was likely the Noble of the Sword, but I didn’t see anyone who called out to me. The council looked like a bunch of sissies if I was being honest, and I wouldn’t ask a single one to join me in battle. I glanced over at Nike, and he seemed to be just as unimpressed as I was, so I wondered if Aine had also told him the other spirit was close.
My first instinct was to ask who had the sword, but they’d already shown their lack of trust even with the gift of catching the bandits. I’d have to show them I meant business, so I tuned in my dragon hearing to their huddled conversation.
“He brought us the criminals,” one of the men insisted quietly. “Surely, that’s a good sign.”
“But why are they here in the first place?” another one asked with a slight shudder. “Have we angered the king?”
“That’s silly, Nolan, the princess doesn’t go around the kingdom doling out punishment,” a woman pointed out. “She wasn’t even seen for ages.”
“Then we really don’t know what they could be up to, Morgan,” the first man insisted. “This could cause quite a commotion for Yrosa.”
A lightbulb clicked on in my head.
They were more worried about why Alyona and I were here than they were about the bandits. It was obvious they rarely had visitors, but it was terrifying to them that the princess and future king had arrived without announcement.
“Okay, listen,” I interrupted their discussion, and seven silver-headed Nepins whirled to face me. “I can tell you’re upset about our appearance, which I understand, but I’ve vowed my allegiance to Rahma and her people, which means I’m here to help. I’d like to help you stop these thieves and figure out who is behind it.”
“What do you mean?” the man I’d heard called Nolan asked, and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“These three admitted to taking orders from a leader,” I explained as I gestured to the tied-up bandits. “I can find out who that is.”
“Why would you do that for us?” Morgan asked. “You are married to the princess, which means you are likely to take the throne in coming years. What is your business with Yrosa?”
“My business is making sure my people are safe,” I answered easily. “With a group of thieves running around your city, I’d call that decidedly unsafe, so I’ll solve your problem. Once we’re finished, and I have the culprit, I’ll ask for your help with my problem.”
“You came here for a problem of your own?” she asked with raised eyebrows.
“That I need your help with, yes,” I clarified. “And I’ll explain everything once we have this bandit thing under control. Do we have a deal?”
Morgan looked at the other female Nepin warily, and the two leaned in for more hushed conversation. The men quickly joined in, and I resisted listening in again as they conferred about my offer.
“Do you think they’ll accept?” Nike asked under his breath.
“They’d be stupid not to,” Laika grunted. “We have to find the sword either way, so they might as well get our help out of the deal.”
“True, but they seem very suspicious of us,” I pointed out.
“Because almost none of them have ever met someone who wasn’t a Nepin,” Isabella chimed in. “I was the first in many years to venture into another city because we were always taught not to trust outsiders.”
“What made you decide to go anyway?” I wondered.
“Curiosity,” she giggled, and her mom shot her an annoyed look. “Well, it was. I always felt so confined here, and I had no desire to marry that insipid fool they’d chosen.”
“Maurice is not insipid,” Rocia argued with a frown. “He is a gentleman.”
“Mother, he didn’t know how to hold a conversation for more than thirty seconds without running out of things to say because he has no interests besides working at the mill,” Isabella sighed. “He was so… utterly boring.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” I chuckled with a wink at Nike.
“I have no idea who you mean,” he scoffed before he grinned.
Nike’s grandfather had intended for him to marry an incredibly boring closet psycho named Margaret, but we’d taken care of that betrothal thing a few days ago in Leyte. Now, Nike was free to marry whomever he wanted, which meant he wasn’t stuck with that stick in the mud.
My women giggled as we all remembered Margaret, though Isabella’s parents didn’t seem very amused.
Then Morgan cleared her throat, and we all looked up to see the Noble Council rise from their huddle and face us again.
“So, you will rid our city of these thieves, and we will help you with a problem,” she said carefully. “There is nothing more you will require of us?”
“Nope.” I shook my head and grinned. “No punishment coming down from the king of Rahma. Just me and my family trying to find something, and one of you can help us.”
