Thrones of Blood Preview

Red’s ancestral home burned all around him and the smoke in the air carried with it the scent of death, both of the body and of any remaining hope. The City of Many Colors, sacred gathering site of his race, had fallen, and thousands had fallen with it. The rainforest trees they had tended to so carefully for millions of years had gone up in flames, corpses instead of living worshipers hung out of the tree temples, the sacred pools now had waterlogged bodies floating on top of them instead of beautiful impiari lotuses, which had burned during the war. Red, Chief of the Akapcheri lay caged like a rainbow quezcha bird, his right wing broken in battle, his maw and remaining wing bound. Death would have been preferable, and he struggled to understand why he was not already dead. There was no point in keeping a dragon against its will for death would be the end result anyway. The general who had laid his people low sauntered over to his cage, multicolored, his scales like dancing flame, a wicked expression on his face. So that was why he was still alive, to be mocked. Red wished he could spit, could curse, could flare his wings or do something to show his displeasure. All he could do was stare at the face of his conqueror.

“ I see that among all the Tribes of Jariss the Akapcheri are still the dumbest. All your lizard kyn surrendered the second they heard of Vladikir’s wishes but no, you had to be different and fight. What has that gotten you but the death of your people and the destruction of everything you held dear?

“ I retain my pride as a”

The thought connection died before he could finish. His tormentor smiled at his surprise.

“ That was a rhetorical question my friend, I care not for what the dead have to say. I just want to introduce you to your replacement before your demise. I believe you are familiar with her.”

From behind the hordes of enemy soldiers came a blue serpentine figure, and if were still able to speak he would gasp in shock. Blue, the person who had informed him of Vladikir in the first place, was now in league with them. Had she always been on their side, playing him? She looked him in his eyes but there was no malice there, no disappointment, no anything. Perhaps Red had been a fool resisting, but their people had been conquered too many times for his taste. Wave after wave of Ectobacthi(Nightstalker), Garrudyn(Thubani), Iviakthyr(FrostFang), and Verthiavi(Nazedakians) had passed through them, had killed and put his people under claw. He would rather be on the side fighting then the side bowing. Red kept staring at her, violet eyes peering into her soul, letting her know exactly how he felt, to feel the impact of what she had done. After a while she turned her gaze

“ Oh, don’t look at her that way. She did exactly what she was supposed to do, acting in the best interest of her people. Something she will do much better in your absence. Anything you have to say?”

Red struggled to speak through the shackles on his mouth, but was thwarted again.The soldiers who surrounded him laughed at his futile efforts. Damn, he could not even die with dignity.

“ I thought not. Blue say bye to your old friend, Nawassar if you would please.”

A bipedal dragon with a twisted blade approached his cage, leisurely as if he were about to slaughter camiar, not another dragon, and Red, being unable to move, was unable to stop his fate. His killer opened the cage with strange gentleness, right before he plunged the sword into Red’s head. There was nothing else.

Chapter 1

Vladikir sat on his throne, his monstrosity of smoke and metal and gem, peering above everyone else in the newly renovated Council Chamber as a tyrant should. Thamassar and Zhaydeen sat with him at his left and right wing, eyeing down their guests for any suspicious activity, along with fifty or so guards armed to the teeth. Almost 100 dragons filled his chamber today, and aside from his ilk they were from either the City States of the Nyugkir Plains, or the Rainforest of Many Colors, his newest conquests.

Over a year had passed since he had conquered the Shadows, and many jewels had entered his crown since then. Tzelkin and Japexxi, his neighbors to the South, had fallen without resistance, bowing before Thuban’s superiority. A few of the Jariss of the rainforest who now slithered here cowering had tried to defy him, but one rout had restored their senses. There had been no hope of winning for them anyway, they had never been particularly skilled in military manners. The same could be said for the Trader Cities, who like his Southern neighbors had surrendered peacefully, having no desire to fight.

They had brought gifts from their lands to show their rulers good will. Prior to their ambassador's arrival rows of meat from exotic beasts, mortal servants with golden breastplates and jeweled shoes, rare herbs and spices to flavor food, and bejeweled statues of their gods and heroes had all arrived outside of Thuban’s shattered walls. At least his palace could get some of that old majesty it has lost back. Ever since Eihnikal had stripped his palace bare in tribute to the Nightstalker, and after he had put Thuban to the torch it had not felt the same. Vladikir had ignored the council of both his sons and advisors in regards to rebuilding the city at all, and only agreed to partial reconstruction of the palace for purposes of convenience. Thuban would rise again like an ororo from the ashes only when his empire was complete, when every dragon on the continent bowed before him. Until then it would stay this way, a sign of what a world without his success would be like to him. Ruin.

Back to his guests, what was that ancient saying, eat the sweet meats and choke on the bones? The meat had already been devoured, it was time to deal with the bones. The ambassadors lined up to speak to him with the most prominent going first. A purple Jariss, one of the rainforest feathered dragons, slithered forward. If he remembered correctly this one was aptly, or simply depending on the point of view, named Purple, representative of the Akapcheri tribe of the Southern portion of the rainforest, the fools who had tried to organize a resistance but had been forced to come to their senses. Her voice, even in thought, was melodious.

“ Vladikir the Black, Emperor of Thuban, Lord of the West, I am Purple of the Akapcheri and I represent our ruler Blue. I am here to promise our loyalty and our soldiers to your cause, great ruler of dragons.”

Vladikir rolled his eyes and steam brewed in his jaws. He had no time for their flattery.

“ Let us not waste each other's time,” Vladikir looked down disgustedly, “You all here for the same purpose, correct?”

His head became a chorus of answers but they were all variants of yes. Damn the sneaky bastards! Vladikir had known going into this that the Lords of Nyugkir and the Rainforest had stolen his initiative, but that made it no easier to stomach.

“ All of you, one by one, tell me the size of your armies, and if you do not know the exact number give me an estimate.” Vladikir commanded.

They obeyed. About 20,000 from Purple’s Akapcheri tribe, 30,000 from the Naaralis tribe , 60,000 from the city-state of Juu-Saar, and 65,000 from the city of Pervazar. As the numbers came in Vladikir did the math. If their numbers were accurate and if they gave him even half of that his army would double. Vladikir would be the strongest ruler South of the Frostbite Mountains. That was of course ignoring their obvious manipulation and eventual wing clipping.

The rulers of the rainforest and the city states were not martial people and knew they stood no chance at all in battle. So to preserve themselves they surrendered to him. If he attacked anyway no one would ever surrender to him again and he would gain the reputation of a mad dragon. The troops they gifted him would never be loyal to him and would flee in the face of any real conflict that he could not clearly win. The moment his empire showed a hint of weakness or instability they would revolt and their troops with them, shattering his life’s work. If he succeeded then they lost nothing besides their independence. Vladikir was playing a dangerous game, one that could end in total dominion, or painful death and defeat.

He looked at his sons at his side. Both of their faces were stony, emotionless, not wanting these ambassadors to see any sign of weakness. As much as it pained him to admit it, their forces were needed if he had any hope of conquering other stronger nations, especially that behemoth that lusted in the North. So for the moment he would indulge them, take their troops and use them to his advantage. However, he would put Thubani troops in their cities and in the forest, and send spies to their lands to make sure that they stayed loyal. He nodded to himself, that would be the way to go.

“ Alright, here is what I will do. I will take half of all your forces and use them to continue my conquests. Your cities will retain the other half for personal use and I will send some Thubani forces along for your added protection.”

“That will not be necessary. We can handle ourselves quite well.” Interrupted a melodic thought voice Vladikir did not recognize.

“Oh, I insist.” Vladikir said in a voice that made it clear it was an order.

Some mumbling and dissent filled the room and Zhaydeen got up and flashed his tailblade, to make sure they knew what happened if they got uppity. A few growls from Vlarak and the other guards helped further calm the room down. They would try nothing, not in Thuban at the least. These ones would wait until they reached their cities to start their scheming.

“ As a further show of good will I also ask that each of you select someone who you believe best represents your interest to join my newly remade Council of Thuban. If I am going to be your ruler then I need to hear the opinions of all my people, Thubani or otherwise. Whether you believe it or not, I want your territories to do well.”

He also wanted to see if they were plotting anything, and having some of their most competent politicians in his inner circle under his gaze was never a bad idea. When no one responded Vladikir decided to take things into his own claws.

“Just do it okay, since I can’t ask nicely. Dismissed” Vladikir hissed.

There was some trepidation on their part, and they looked around unsure what to do. Vladikir snarled and they got the message. His new subjects took their leave, getting out of the entrance as fast as they could to go back to their homelands. Their guards gave his one last snarl before following their quarries back into the sky. Vladikir kept a close eye on them, just in case, but they left peacefully. Vladikir let out a sigh of relief.

“ That went better than I expected.” Vladikir exclaimed.

“ When did you get so optimistic? That was not the vibe I got at all. They sounded ready to attack you.” Thamassar raised an eye ridge.

“ Did they attack?” Vladikir hissed.

“ What a low bar for success. You're lucky they are literally the weakest dragons on the continent or I might have actually been concerned.” Zhaydeen shook his head.

“ Lucky indeed. They won’t try anything until we fail, and those troops in their land will dissuade them a little bit. From this point on we must move carefully. We are no longer the small realm beating the odds and crushing stronger nations. Our empire is now known and respected, and will be treated as such. Zhaydeen, I need you to organize the troops we get from our new subjects and take them to Gvaad and the Ironhold Mountains. Thamassar, get back to your lessons. Vlarak, you and the other guards take my throne back to my room. And try not to break it this time. Thanks” Vladikir stepped off his throne.

He heard groans of disappointment but did not care. There was an empire he had to run.

Chapter 2

Once again he was in Baanshank, the beautiful capital of the Azjaazda people and a city he still could not stand. Azahdeen, true to her word, had allowed him back inside her city so they could solidify their once verbal agreement and it looked considerably better than the last time he had seen it. However it still bore some of the scars of that battle. Survaj walked to the window of his room and looked outside to see a city still recovering, heaps of rubble next to reconstructed towers, carrion eaters scrapping where living dragons walked, and war cripples hiding from their brethren in the shadows. A city that teetered on the brink of life and death.

Having observed enough, Survaj yawned and walked out of the guest room, a rather small and surprisingly drab place, with only old books and maps to keep him company, and found Thare-Elni and Thanaskis standing on the walls outside his room. Neither looked pleased, radiating pessimism and impatience.

“ Is there something I can help you with?” Survaj shifted his gaze between the two.

“ Why are we wasting time here? Azahdeen has already promised her aid, so why are we still lollygagging here?” Thanaskis looked disgusted.

“ I must agree with the welp. What is the point of us being here when we can spend this time convincing other nations or shoring up our defenses?” Thare added.

Survaj rolled his eyes. These two lacked any imagination.

‘ A verbal agreement means nothing if we do not have actual terms. I have to settle how our troops are going to be organized, who is going to lead them, our first targets and so on. It is not a simple process at all.”

“It’s been a year. If you wanna fuck her just say so. We are all grown here and nobody cares that much.” Thanaskis blurted out.

Damn, he had to start being more discrete. It would help if his old friend could moan and scream a little less. Azahdeen and him had always had a connection, since the first time he had come to her realm at two hundred. She had been little more than another irrelevant royal spawn, and not particularly favored by her mother, the then current Tahjril Zahril. Survaj had been in the opposite position. He was the favored son of his sire Izzezi-Kahze Kyguras, and had been on his first solo diplomatic mission. Through a series of interesting events they had met and gotten acquainted with each other. Other responsibilities had forced him back to the royal residence of Shaidsi before he could get to know her better, but they had never forgotten their time together. She had gone on to win her position as Tahjril and their responsibilities had kept them away from each other until now.

“ I don’t want to deal with this right now. Let's get the rest of these details hammered out.” Survaj ended the conversation.

Thare gave him a teasing scratch on his thigh and Survaj could not help but smile. There were no other warriors he would rather be here with. Thanaskis walked behind them, untrusting as always, hand near his hilt. This makeshift palace Azahdeen had constructed was not comparable to her former one, more than big enough for short Kygurians but barely large enough to hold an Azjaazda. Much of her wealth was gone, sandstone replacing the finery, and blank grey walls replacing millennia of art work. Her throne room was also far more accessible than the winding and endless passageways of her old palace. This palace was now more a place of function than finery. Within a moment's notice they were at the entrance of said throne room, her few remaining royal guards standing at each side of the entrance. They snarled at Survaj and his posse, but allowed them inside, unhappy looks on their faces. At the very least they should be used to Survaj entering here. Wink-wink-nudge-nudge.

Azahdeen immediately came into view, hovering over a map on the floor, her new generals on her side deliberating. There was Juumez, a grey- brown dragon with a mean scar over his left eye. Asahrij, a reddish brown female with yellow streaks and an attitude , and finally Anahjril, the black eyed commander responsible for the new City Guard of Baanshank. All three of them looked up from the map to see the new entrants who had interrupted them, snorted, and went back to the map. That was disrespectful. Thanaskis chuckled low and Thare tried and failed to hide a smirk. Survaj hit them both with his tail, hard, and initiated conversation with the military leaders.

“ Do you have anything new since the last time we spoke? Have your messengers brought news from the other realms?”

Irritation crept on several of their faces but Azahdeen at the very least honored him with conversation.

“ We have sent emissaries to the Dordain, Suweir, the wild dragons, Imangami, Aleyr, and the Khygosians. The Dordain, Suweir, Aleyr and some of the wild dragons have answered our call and stand on our side. The rest not so much.”

Survaj slapped his tail on the ground with disgust. Khygios? They were probably the second or third strongest nation in the desert, a proud nation of hammer wielding brutes. Brutes who happened to have an ancient history of hatred with House Kyguras. The two had fought countless times over the last few millions of years, and even if their help might be necessary he did not relish the opportunity of working with them. General Asahrij flashed him a fanged grin, enjoying his displeasure.

“ I don’t care if you don’t like them, I don’t like you but we are doing this anyway. I doubt they’ll agree with anything once they find out you're involved anyway.” She snapped.

Lord Kyguras did not take too well to being spoken to like that, but there was some truth to her statement. Vladikr was growing stronger everyday and soon he would set his wretched sights on their desert home. If working with those lizards was his best chance at doing that he would put aside ancestral conflict.

“ You sent those messengers many months ago when the situation was not as dire. Many more realms have fallen to the black dragon since then. I hear the Trader cities and the Rainforest have already sworn their allegiance to him, while Taal Merix and Gvaad suffer his raids. We shall try again and I will personally go to the Imangami Realm, while Xaros goes to the Wandering Tribes.”

The already tense atmosphere grew even more sour at the mention of Vladikir’s new conquests. Perhaps now the other desert rulers would understand the true severity of the threat they all faced. The black dragon looked unstoppable, surely they realized that their nations could no longer sit around and ignore it.

“I will put aside our differences if he is willing to do the same. What we are facing is far bigger than our well justified hatred for each other.” Survaj continued.

Azahdeen and Juumez looked pleased with his answer, while troublesome Asahrij merely turned her nose up..

“Good, I was hoping that would be your answer. JawrIanno arrives in three days. Be a dear and be on your best behavior.” Azahdeen winked at him.

“ What?! Why was I not informed?” Survaj growled.

“ I kept you distracted. Now be good and don’t ruin this meeting. You know how temperamental Lord Khygios can be.” Azahdee shushed him.

Survaj could not believe it. The subtle manipulation of his desires, the deception, not directly answering his questions, all lead up to this. He would have been mad had it not been executed perfectly. Thanaskis and Thare looked disgusted, and he could not blame them.

“Are we going to allow this?” Thanaskis thoughts were outraged.

“ I do not like this.” Thare’s thought voice resonated, kinder than his son’s but still upset.

“ We were going to have to speak to him eventually, now is as good a time as ever. “ Survaj replied quietly.

There was no argument there.

“ Any other surprises I should know about before he gets here? Did you you invite the undead from the City of Bones, or perhaps you unfroze Hamaiin and he wishes to speak his peace.” Survaj joked.

Azahdeen gave him a wicked grin and let her tailblade hang.

“ None for the moment, my friend. It is not hard to fool males, after all you think with your cloacas.” Azahdeen hissed.

“ I have found that females are much the same, sweet Azahdeen. You are not the only one who can play this game. We take our leave.” Survaj warned.

He folded his hands behind his back and walked out of the room, his two companions by his side as always. There was a hard task ahead of him. Survaj had three days to prepare himself and his soldiers for a fateful meeting with their hated foes. He did not look forward to it.