RDM RP Page #12
3 Weeks Later
Dusk was painting a firey sunset with multitudes of vibrant hues behind the city of Sar'dan. A single large dragon soared over the city's high, white walls, its course for the ivory castle. On closer inspection, the dragon was an emerald green, Erador minus his polished battle armour. The rider atop the beast was clad in his usual black leather attire, a contrasting balance to his good heart. The pair landed on the balcony to a suite in one of the castle's grand towers. "Malias will have to be informed immediately of this news," said Erindor jumping down from the saddle, breaking his fall with a forward roll on the polished marble floor.
-"Aye brother, get washed up and I'll order a servant with orders that we wish to speak with Malias immediately."- "Very well Erador, send forth, I'll be just a minute," said Erindor from within the wash closet.
Malias sat calmly upon his throne in great thought while he gazed up upon the cieling with his light blue eyes that gleamed in the light which came in from the open doors of the castle. It had been three weeks since he had heard anything from Amrevar, but he was more concerned about Illatrius's eggs. He was hoping that they would hatch soon so he could see young Enrias becoming a Dragon Rider.
Erador didn't have to travel far to find a servant, finding one just outside of the suite for Erindor and himself.
-"You there, send word to Malias, we'll be needing his council soon. Now make haste!"- ordered the dragon brusquely. The servant, with certain fear gleaming in his eyes made a quick salute and nearly tripped over his own feet darting down the spiral staircase. "Got that servant?!" came Erindor's elevated voice from within,
-"Aye, the flatfoot fool is on his way.-
Erador's brother had his arms crossed when the dragon re-entered the room. "Just because you're riled doesen't mean you have to make insults on people that are intimidated by you." Erador shrugged, tail undulating across the floor anxiously as he gazed out one of the thirty high windows spanning the entire circumferance of the circular room's exterior walls. Erindor quickly dried his obsidian hair with a silk towel and secured his tunic and swords to himself. "Lets go..." he said jumping the distance up into the saddle and strapped his legs in.
-"Finally-" said the annoyed dragon launching them out of the room, over the balcony, and hurtled wings at his sides towards the castle's central courtyard.
The servant made his way down towards the throne room and bowed before Malias upon the marbled floor. "Erindor and Erador wish to speak with you, my lord."
Malias nodded and rose from the throne after the servant left with his approval. The Elven lord exited his castle and came into the courtyard. He still felt a light pain, that was left from the last battle, within him when he moved, but it wasn't something he couldn't handle. He looked up at the sky, feeling the gentle wind upon his face as the sun warmed up the atmosphere. It hadn't been this pleasant for some time and Malias wasn't planning on wasting it.
Erador backwinged four times before dropping the last twenty or so feet onto his hind legs, dropping to his fore legs a second later. Dust and dirt began settling in the courtyard from the winds blown by Erador's large wings. Erindor jumped down immediately and his eyes struck upon Malias a distance away. He made his pace to the lord deliberately, not rushed, but with a certain importance that carried his feet swiftly. "Lord Malias," he greeted when within earshot, "we've some news." He looked around at some of the people strolling through the courtyard. The rider continued in a lower voice, "it would be best if we spoke to you in a less public location."
Malias peered over to them and smiled with a calm nod. "Where do you suggest, Erindor?" he asked. There was something about the air that made him feel so relaxed, but he didn't know quite what it was.
Erador was the only one who sniffed the air, a sweet smell lingered in it that was his favourite. Erindor, was quite the opposite, "yes, its quite lovely, the throne room will do fine, after you my lord."
Malias bowed and entered into his castle, wishing that he didn't have to leave the wonderful weather outside that was so calming yet it was so fantastic to feel it again after so many long days of rain. Once he entered the castle, he came to to the center of the throneroom and turned towards Erindor and Erador's direction.
Rider and dragon followed in Malias' footsteps to the throne room. Erindor didn't tarry in now heralding the news, "Malias, hert'zar...dur
ing our scouting trip through the southern mountain ranges, we...the whole of Elithian has been..." Emotion choked off his words, "excuse me..." he said turning away. Erador picked up were his brother left off, -"during our scouting mission, we saw the remains of Elithian. The whole of it was sheer carnage, not one soul alive...not even children, or women with their babes still in arm. Nearly every building burned partially, defensive walls crumbling and scorched, soldiers slain in their barracks, in their beds. With their wives and sweethearts at home removed from this green earth with similar carelessness."-
Erindor found his tongue and whipped around to face Malias, malice and venom in his eyes and voice, "that wasn't the worst of it. Aye...it was not the worst." He began pacing between Erador's forepaws, "all their bodies, all the people who had tried to fend off the attack in the middle of the sacred night...were slain, laid together in a abominable pile, their corpses rotting over one another. The crows...oh the everlasting cries of those terrible black birds, their shrieks of joy over what hath befall as their mighty dinner feast." His voice trembled to an end, its vibrations dripping with anger, remorse, shock and sadness. Erindor stood against Erador's right foreleg on its inside, his mind still reliving the nightmare.
Erador lowered his head, setting it next to Erindor, which he embraced as best he could around its large size. -"We know it to be the Hert'zar, none other than them could have done this so with such...disreguard of innocent life. We also found some of them slain, mostly by pillow daggers and kitchen knives, the only thing the people of Elithian had ample time to arm themselves with.-" "There's something wrong with the mix. From what we gathered, there couldn't have been more than say three-hundred of the demonic beasts attacking Elithian," added Erindor. -"The people and soldiers could have probably repelled that force even at the late hour of night they were attacked...- "...There must have been some other kind of power there, to shroud the attack, and aid in the reckless hewing of the city and its people," said Erador's rider, finishing his sentence and thought.
"What!?" Malias shouted in fear; he couldn't have been more shaken by this news.It was so horrible to hear that he felt like he shouldn't have heard it at all, but for some reason it was bound to his heart and he wished he could have done something about it. "It couldn't have been Amrevar... It just couldn't..." His eyes went wide with dread; seeing woman and children slaughtered in the images the news left him caused a tear to stream down the side of his face. The sight of it was so grieving... He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "It could not have been the Dark Lord's doing, for Elithial belongs to the Dark Empire..."
Erindor let his embrace of his dragon brother's head loose, Erador's right eye had noticeable amount of glistening water in it. "T-tt-then," Erindor stammered, "then perhaps the hert'zar have turned against their equally cruel masters. -"That would be the only good to come of this vile blackness"- concluded Erador, his turgid sentence punctuated by a diamond clear tear falling from his noble visage. The glistening globe of water slowed and stopped just before the floor. Its watery depths eaten away as the drop steamed to death. The dragon threw its head heavenward and howled with such a handsome flowing tone, a melody and harmony combined that would put the lonesome cries of wolves pleading to the moon to shame. The roar echoed through the marble throne room long after Erador had lowered his head to the floor, Erindor also lowering his head, lips moving in silent prayer. "What hath fate for us now?"
Malias was silent for some time before he spoke. "Possibly... but we must stay strong... what is dead... is dead and there cannot be anything to do about it... but we can only wish we could have done something to aid them... if only we had known this was going to happen... If we knew... maybe things would have been different for them... but now... all that have died are probably in a more sound place than here..." In his heart, Malias was stricken with grief but he tried to keep it back. He wished there was something he could have done yet he knew that he could not doing anything about Elithian, for the great city was already gone and there wasn't anything strong enough to bring it back.
"Mavria..." he said softly. "Would you care to take a ride with me to Elithian?"
“I would love to,” Mavria replied happily.
“Good…” Amrevar replied with a smile. He led her to the stables in the stone chambers while holding tightly onto her hand. He saddled up the two horses, preparing them for the long travel past the Drezna mountains. “Elithian is a beautiful city… I took you there a long time ago… The path that we took is still there… I know so, for I sent my Hert’zar there to ensure that peace was among its people… I hope they did not ravage the city…” Amrevar lifted Mavria onto Starlight’s saddle and he took the reins of both Starlight and Deathrider
“Why Hert’zar? You could have used your Elf kind, darling,” Mavria wondered calmly.
“I couldn’t… I am not a complete Drow and therefore I cannot lead their armies… The only Drow Elves that linger here are those who were banished from the Dark Kingdom that lies within the mountains… Zenixus and Xanthus are my Drow Imperial Guards… though… I wonder what ever happened to them… They never returned when I sent them to Zeria,” Amrevar replied as he led the horses to the back of the stables where there was a tunnel that led into the mountain. “This tunnel was made to take us to the path to Elithian and U’telm… It’s quite secure.” The Dark Lord handed Mavria the reins to her horse and mounted onto Deathrider with its reins in one hand. “This should be an interesting travel…”
“Indeed,” Mavria laughed serenely and smiled as she peered over at him. Amrevar looked at her and chuckled. “Shall we move on then?”
“Yes…” Amrevar replied when the both of them pressed their heels into the horses’ sides. They galloped off into the shadowed tunnel with their eyes set for the gorgeous city of Elithian not knowing that the city was left in ruins.
Some hours passed before Amrevar and Mavria arrived at Elithian; they traveled through a forest for some time after they left the mountains. The Dark Lord covered his nose with his arm when he smelt a stench of decaying flesh that lied heavily within the air around them. What’s going on? Amrevar thought before turning to Mavria who shifted in the saddle as she felt uncomfortable with the smell. The horses shook their heads from the stink and moved back in great alarm; they whinnied and snorted with overcoming anxiety. The Dark Lord calmed them as he gazed out through the forest with unease. He knew something wasn’t right. Mavria and Amrevar urged their horses to move on despite the smell that caused their worries to heighten to such a degree that they feared to persevere, but Amrevar was concerned that the Hert’zar might have massacred the entire city. Deathrider was a nervous wreck in its position and wouldn’t obey its master’s command. Soon, Amrevar had to dismount to lead the horse himself through the forest. It was beginning to grow dark as the sun began to set in the western horizon while the two continued on their path. The nearer they came to the city, the more frightened Deathrider became and it pulled the reins from Amrevar’s grip allowing it to flee back towards Mavenethar. The Dark Lord growled in all of his frustration; Mavria tried not to laugh, but she ended up doing so behind her lips that she covered with her right hand.
“Amrevar, why don’t you ride with me and take Starlight’s reins? She’s strong enough to hold us both,” Mavria suggested, but Amrevar shook his head.
“No… I am fine,” Amrevar replied as he turned towards Mavria with a slight smile.” Thank you though… I can walk.”
“Then here…” Mavria handed Amrevar the reins to Starlight with a smile upon her face. “You may lead the horse, darling… I will just sit here, enjoying the forest’s splendors.”
Amrevar calmly laughed behind his lips whilst he gently took the reins from Mavria. “Very well… Though…this foul smell shall ruin your gazing…”
“I know… but it is all I have left to occupy myself… I must enjoy the green of the forest while it lasts… autumn is drawing near… and the leaves shall change into vibrant colors… wither… and eventually fall to the cold ground… It is like that every year… and every year I weep that the beauty lasted for so long… I always wait for months before it returns once more…” Mavria said peacefully.
“Then one day, when all ill tidings have passed away, we shall live where the green lasts forever…” Amrevar assured her with a smile. He looked up at her as he led Starlight onward for Elithian.
“I would like that,” Mavria replied, smiling down at him, but then when she turned her head, she gasped. Amrevar’s smile faded when he followed Mavria’s glance to the city. His eyes became wide open with a sudden terror that engulfed him in sorrow.
"Aye, staying strong has been a stature we've been forced to uphold for the past four millenia or so Malias. But I must point out, that wishing that we could have done something won't help us either," said the distraught Erindor calmly. -"Have us time to mourn, and honnor those past, for that is honnorable for us to do, nevertheless if they are our enemies or our loved ones."- "Don't ignore, or condemn, accept and say farewell to the past in the here and now, and move on, be present, be present." -"Be present, for this is the only real certain thing we know that has not been claimed by time-" added Erador, completing his brother's thoughts and words.
Erindor stood silent and grave for a time more, breath inaudible, "we know what has been done, now it is the time to do what has to be done." The emerald dragon shifted his forepaw, -"we must find out the reason for this massacre, it could be beneficial, or disaterous to us, weighing the odds of the forces at hand are our exact next move.-" "Malias, my brother and I volunteer to scout and find the remaining Hert'zar. To look for some reason why this terrible thing occured," said the ebony leather clad rider, his dragon giving a short nod.
Malias nodded. "I understand and you my go my friends..." a smiled marked Malias' lips before he turned towards the wall in thought. "I shall make it a dream to rebuild Elithian... After it is rebuilt, Man may live peacefully under the protection of the Elves..." Then he peered at them when his smile faded into a frown of sadness as thoughts about the ravaged city reentered into his mind. "You have my blessings, Erindor and Erador... Now go... and find the answers to all of our questions concerning the attack upon Elithian... We shall make it so that it will be rebuilt."
As Amrevar stood in grief, he saw the rotting bodies of both villager and soldier lying upon the ground moist with blood. There were about over a hundred of them that were left to be feed among the crows that swarmed around trees and putrefying carcasses of Man. Dead children were slaughtered and some mothers with killed babies still in arm were devastated. Amrevar couldn’t bear the sight while tears streamed down the sides of his face as he clenched his hands into fists of sheer anger. He tossed the reins aside, walking forwards towards the rotting city. Flames still shot up out of smoldering dwellings, throwing ash and rubble into the foul air filled with the stink of the departed. Growls were sent though Amrevar’s lips from the anger that was building up with each moment he stood there in grief. The Great Carnage… he never saw anything more saddening in his long life. Then he heard a baby’s cry from somewhere that lessened his somewhat lessened his resentment. The Dark Lord came upon the child with a worried face and kneeled down beside it as he looked at its mother who was dead upon the ground nearby. “Mavria…” he said sadly. She took that reins and led the horse towards Amrevar, halting the horse right behind him. The creature pawed the ground in the longing to move on, but Mavria kept it still. She looked upon the baby, wrapped in a silky white blanket, that Amrevar had gently picked up and cradled in his arms. He handed it to Mavria who carefully held it in her arms. “The child is a boy…” Amrevar said calmly. “He seems to be the only one who survived the slaughter…”
“Oh, goodness… poor thing…” Mavria said as she observed the small infant. “He’s only a few months old…” Then she gasped when she saw the side of the child’s head; his ear was missing and where it had once been was bloodied terribly. Amrevar laid his hand on the child’s wound and healed it, muttering a few words under his breath. When the infant felt safe, it fell asleep within Mavria’s comforting arms. “We should take care of him, Amrevar… We can’t leave him here… He may be of Man… but we just have to… he has a life to live…” Amrevar smiled she looked down at him.
“Of course we will,” Amrevar replied. “But we shall have to give the child to Malias later in time when he is older… I am not capable of caring for him for too long…” Mavria nodded in understanding and looked up at the sky with a smile.
“At least we were able to help the child… I am glad that we can play a part in his life… If it weren’t for us, he wouldn’t have survived…” She returned her gaze to Amrevar, there was a light shimmering in her eye. “Amrevar… you are changing…” Amrevar laughed behind his lips.
“Indeed…” Before he could say anything else, a Hert’zar came to him for his attention. Amrevar turned around and growled as his anger began to rise again. “What have you done!?” The Dark Lord glared right into the Hert’zar’s eyes that now glittered with fear of his master.
“We were following your orders, my lord,” the beast said as it stepped back in terror, but Amrevar seized the creature’s neck tightly.
“This isn’t what I wanted you to do! I said make sure there is peace among the people! Not attack them and leave none alive!” Amrevar growled in rage. Then he threw the beast aside onto the ground and drew his sword, pointing it at the beast’s neck. “Those were not my commands!” He stabbed the sword into the Hert’zar’s neck, killing the creature instantly. He sheathed his sword as he looked upon an army of Hert’zar led towards him by mimic of his own self-appearance.
“No… brother… they were my orders…” said the fraud morbidly. Amrevar growled bitterly behind his clenched teeth. The dark deception slowly walked towards Amrevar with steps that seemed to mock Amrevar in a way that was as silent as the night that came swiftly upon them and was light upon the ground like a snake. “I… Morac… have designed those instructions… You simply didn’t choose to go with your beasts… and because I am your twin… I decided to take advantage of the situation… The only thing I could not mimic… was your useless eye scarred by father… Amrevar… you are becoming weak… I sense it day by day… Sometimes I wonder about our father’s wisdom in choosing you for a simple task in controlling the Dark Empire… You see… You are not the only one who has the power of darkness inherited by father… I can become what you both lack and already have… I am your superior… I exceed you far beyond measure… Caring for a child already doomed?” Morac laughed in amusement. “Father shall be so displeased… You are so pitiful… I feel ashamed to even call you my twin… I even heard that you wanted to follow the ways of Malias… Truly depressing… and hear I thought you wanted to kill him… Such a shame…” Morac’s head was bowed and his eyes narrowed, looking straight at Amrevar with a sinister glance that pierced through him like the sharp edge of a sword. He halted some ways away from his brother and lifted up his head with an evil grin. Amrevar growled. “What are you standing here growling for, mutt? Speak like the Dark Lord we all know you are…”
“Err…” Amrevar could barely speak ever since he saw his brother’s face. So many memories came to his mind… Morac was the darker of the two and he was more sinister than the Dark Lord. Amrevar even wondered why it was he that was chosen and not Morac.
Erindor scaled up the side of Erador's saddle, "if it is your dream and will Malias, then it shall be done. Elithian will be rebuilt on an adamantine constitution of peace that will endure as Sar'dan has." -"We'll scout the ruined city again, and find the Hert'zar responsible, and their leader as well. Do not send anyone to look for us for if we do not return within a fortnight,-" instructed Erador preparing to travel quickly back to the courtyard. The rider secured his legs into the saddle, "fear not, and farewell Malias, all will be revealed when the light is shed upon it." Upon that, the large emerald dragon turned on talon, whiping around and galloped to the courtyard. His immense paws making the stone walls and floor shake with every impact.
-"Make immediate haste Erador, we need to be back there within the hour, if at least better than that. Clues and evidence may allready be wasting away, make haste.-" Erindor's draconian brother only responded by breaking out into a flat out sprint, body moving like a cheeta's, barreling through the corridors of Malias's castle with mere inches to spare to the side around corners. Thunder trumpeted through the air in the courtyard when Erador snapped his wings open. The taut emerald translucent membranes vibrating from the stress of lifting the weight against the rushing air. Dragon and rider shot near vertical, still gliding on the momentum from sprinting before. Zero gravity brushed against Erindor's stomach as they stalled twenty yards above the balcony to their suite in the humid, sweet early evening air. They glided steeply down, arced in a quarter loop and came to a running stop inside the suite.
"Brisingr garjzla," uttered Erindor, releasing himself from his saddle's bondage of his legs. Magic fire the colour of emerald sprang up on the wicks of the oil lamps dotting the white marble walls at regular intervals. Each lamp was forged gold and platinum with triple helix octagonal bars twisting around each other to form the neck and base of the lamp, while its shade was of a clear quartz. The malachite glow was replaced with a strong golden aura in the semi-circular suite, its walls curving with the cylinder of the tower. The rider jumped down and ran to a large chest. Haulting before it, he drew Valourne from its scabbard, using it as the key. Inserting its deadly length with brute force into a slot in the laqured red, black iron bound chest. Dozens of smooth metallic clicks resonating inside the mammoth chest, large enough to house the dragon armour that it did. Erindor withdrew his sword and the chest sprang open with a dramatic air, revealing a treasure of strength; Erador's polished armour.
-"Oh do hurry Erindor, I must say that the many thousands of years are finally catching up with you,-" said a patience tired dragon, taping his talons minaciously. "Yeah yeah, just you wait, give it a dozen more millenia and you'll have a dislocated joint or something..." retorted an unsure Erindor digging the pieces of armour from the chest. "Oh this is taking too long, "rïsa!" he exclaimed, the magic taking strength from his body. Every single piece of the dragon armour lifted from the floor and positioned themselves around Erador. Erindor's muscles fluttered from the effort of lifting so much metal. "Malthinae..." he uttered, and the countless titanium plates shimmered into their respectful positions around Erador until they locked hinges with hundreds of different clicks. -"I was jesting when I said you were going so slow brother, you needn't lift so much weight with magic just to get us going faster-"
"Oh...well," said Erindor betwixt heavy breaths. "We'll just get the job done a little faster..." Erador flexed in his armour, checking the joints and range of motion, -"that we will, come, let us go brother.-" Erindor nodded and retrieved a travel pack from his bedchamber before taking a running jump back into the saddle. The rider had his throwing dagger at his hip alongside his sword and Valourne across his back. Erador reared, releasing a bugle from his dangerous maw and barreled out into the night, wings pumping in the direction of Elithian.
Amrevar growled as he stepped forwards towards his mysterious brother. He tried to keep calm, but with all the disaster Morac had caused, the was a difficulty in keeping his rage back. "How dare you!?" Amrevar shouted bitterly. "Why would you do such a thing!?" The Dark Lord pointed his bloodstained sword at Morac's chin.
"For the enjoyment of course... Every body that was slain... I watched. The dead here are my creation, Amrevar... I have no time for you... I have a ... hatchling to take care of..." Morac replied morbidly before he vanished into the starry night.
Turning to his army of Hert'zar, Amrevar grimaced in sheer disappointment. The wind blew his light blue hair that whipped to the side of him and his face held a stern look with glaring eyes that stared right into the beasts. "I want you all to pic up every body and burn them! Do not leave one forgotten!! I want you to clean up everything! Understand me! You all are fools!! Pile the boddies in the center of the city! Let the bodies of your own kind rot! They are not to be burned for what they had done! You should have shared the same fate!" Amrevar shouted as he pointed at them, but then threw his hand to the side shouting ,"Now go!" With that, every Hert'zar left to gather the decaying dead.
Ghostly lunar light crept over the clouds around them as they hurtled through the air, Erador straining his wings to his considerable limits. One could briefly see the large moonlit dragon as a reflective streak in the sky, passing clouds as one would pass grains of sand on a stroll. -"I smell the carnage of Elithian now, we've yet another half an hour at this rate, we're downwind.-" Commented the dragon as it sped through the night air, chilly at their current altitude. The rider was hunched over to streamline their forms through the air, -good, you don't have to push yourself so fast Erador, we'll be there and things will be the same.-"
Erindor paused and sniffed the chilly, sometimes very humid air, there was something else that he too could smell. Erindor was half dragon afterall, some traits were inherited such as truer sight and smell. -"Erador, I smell...something fresh, living...not like it had been left behind as if before...-" -"Hert'zar...-" was the confirming responce, only firing Erador's will to reach the ruined city faster. Wind roared ever louder by Erindor's ears as the dragon he rode pounded his wings a degree faster against the night.
When the Hert'zar gathered what was left of the dead, they followed their master's orders in piling the carcusses in the midst of the devastated city. Amrevar watched as they set fire to the bodies of both young and old, in grief. Tears streamed down his face as the bodies burned with a bright orange and yellow that engulfed them. He couldn't bear it any longer; his heart was both filled with sorrow and anger that seemed to consume him. He stood by Mavria who still sat upon the white horse Starlight with the child held in her arms. The Dark Lord looked up at her with worry. "Malias is going to question me on what happened to the city... When I say truth about what has happened... and about my brother... they shall not believe me..."
"Yes, Malias shall have a difficult time believing this... You are going to be blamed when it was your brother who had instructed the slaughter... I wish you didn't have to go through with this, darling... Remember, it's not your fault that this happened," Mavria replied serenly. "Just be thankful that we were capable of saving a life..." Mavria gazed upon the fire as tears fell down the sides of her face.
.....
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