Unholy Alliance

After we rounded up all the soldiers and locked them inside mana shielding prison shields that Darby had perfected from analyzing that bizarre shield we had run into at the abandoned fortress trap. The Queen had been so impressed by it that she had Darby teach her arch mages who then taught to those whom they deemed needed the knowledge.

We had allowed them to choose the mages in our own forces that we should train as well. We had formed a very close relationship with the Dargon military, and they had done a great deal in educating us in how build our own troops. Setanna had taken charge and led Darby around like he was his protégé. Darby had grown significantly under his tutelage. We were still a raw, fledgling realm, but we were not doing it all on our own. Of course, Queen was charging us dearly for her help. Nothing worthwhile was free, as they say.

We were now entering deeper and deeper into Sinestelos territory. It was all too quiet though. There should have been at least the occasional patrols, but there was nothing. No patrols. No hints of an ambush. Just the normal chatter of the land and it’s life, both wild and domestic. The more normal it all was, the more wrong it all felt. We were on our highest alert.

Then our longsense spells all began lighting up on the edge of our senses.

It’s a trap! Kanae mind shouted to our legions.

In an instant our senses detected enemies all around us!

“They’re using holy teleportation spells! The church has formed some kind of alliance. We are coming under assault from the church’s forces. Shields to maximum!” I broadcast.

Priests, priestesses, warrior nuns, and warrior monks were materializing all around us. Many of them were also knights. Many of us had been traveling on the ground with our ground forces to help guide and protect them. The church made a fatal flaw in their ambush. We still had all those flying fortresses and battleships above us.

“Kanae, go lead the sky division. I’ll seal teleportation here!”

“Yes Dee,” Kanae said.

Kanae teleported to the lead fleet vessel.

“Nix Portos Maxima!” I cast.

Then, the battleships, the dragons, and the dragonkin began blasting at the perimeters of the church’s forces. Before they had a chance to realize their danger a fourth of their numbers had been destroyed. As soon as they saw the danger they tried to teleport away only to have their spells breaking in waves against my barrier. Some of the mages and knights had devices and were able to escape. Some of those took another, or a few, mages or knights with them.

Darby and I were too busy reinforcing the shields to spend much time battling. So far we had kept all the attacks out, and none our people had been wounded. The battle raged on, but we had cut down the Church’s forces to half of what they had started with. The Church couldn’t make use of most of their knights whose magik levels were very low, but had very high levels of physical prowess, but not enough to penetrate our shields.

“Mana Heal!” I cast.

We had been fighting intensely now for more than an hour and many of our forces were depleting their mana stores and mana chrystals. The numbers of our enemies were still shrinking, but they fought on like they were possessed. These must have been the most faithful, and the church must have instilled great hatred of dragons, or perhaps just me and my people.

“Yield, and you will not be harmed,” I said.

“We will never yield to you, abomination, and your false hero, and your heretical scum!” the leading priestess replied.

“Then die by the hand of the true hero,” I said.

“Kanae, now is the time to use the Gáe Bulga. Take out this meddlesome priestess,” I said.

Lightning and a beam of light descended from the sky and everyone looked up and saw the Gáe Bulga descending as if thrown by the hand of the Goddess herself. The Divine Spear blasted through the shielding of church’s forces. It’s barb filled points flew off the spear and spread out.

Before the leading priestess had a chance to scream the spear crashed down through skull ripping through her entire body which shattered into mana dust. But this was not the light dust of a pure soul, but the dust of a poisoned soul. Every one of her assistants and aids were pierced by one of the many barbs, and they too also turned to poisoned dust. Well, all except one. There was one pure soul among them. Then the spear and its barbs disappeared. And light high in the sky revealed it in the hand of Kanae.

Kanae was glowing in a white light all around her and ethereal wings of white were attached to her back. They look to be made of clouds, or smoke, and without any substance. But they were holding her aloft. The Gáe Bulga had fully activated and had wrapped Kanae in its magik. Every last one of the remaining church combatants could no longer deny she was not the true hero. Kanae was probably going to be pissed at me, for asking her to use it. The priests and priestesses and monks and nuns all fell to their knees and worshipped Kanae.

But, I noticed a few who were surreptitiously eyeing her with looks of hatred.

“Kanae, tell them to rise. They are waiting on your orders,” I said.

“Am I really the hero?” Kanae asked.

“You are the true wielder of the Gáe Bulga. I don’t know if that makes you the true hero. You’ll always be a hero to me,” I said.

“Rise faithful servants of the Goddess,” Kanae said.

“Several of these faithful, are not as faithful as they seem. We should keep them as hostages, for now, to ensure the good behavior of the church,” I said to Kanae.

“Why do you attack my Queen, Queen Deirdre the White Queen?” Kanae asked.

“She is an abomination, and the enemy of the Goddess. She must be destroyed,” said the most senior priestess remaining.

“Deidre is beloved by the Goddess. The Goddess herself appeared before me and commanded me to protect her from harm and all enemies. If you are an enemy of the White Queen, then you are an enemy of the Goddess. An enemy of me, and an enemy of the Dragons,” Kanae said.

Silence. Every church member was gaping at either Kanae, or me. Then all as one, they bowed down to Kanae, and said

“Oh blessed hero of the Goddess, forgive our ignorance! Please intercede for us for forgiveness. We will serve you and your queen without fail from this moment forward.”

“So be it. As a trial of your faith and loyalty, I will take…” Kanae began.

“Five,” I said.

“Five hostages to remain here, and I release you to return and spread the good news to the faithful,” Kane concluded.

And so we took the five under guard and wearing mana suppressing anklets to secured berths on one of our battleships, rather than outright treat them as prisoners. The mystery now, was why was the Church here? I returned to our floating headquarters, and summoned my advisors.

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“Well, that was certainly a surprise. Of every possibility, I never expected to be attacked like that by the Church. What do you all make of that?” asked.

“Well, we’ve had our suspicions for a while that the Church had no love for you, as a half-human/half dragon. They consider such unions and the offspring of such unions as heretical at the least. With all the other things you are famous for, it is inevitable that they see yo as a threat and an abomination,” Setanna said.

“Yes, but why were they involved? They were clearly not working with Crispenwell or Sinestelos. Something is missing here. Who else in this realm, or with an interest in this realm would have the power to bring them here?” I asked.

“Perhaps one of the noble families. Perhaps another realm? Then there are the Barbosan pirates. What reason might they have? Is there some other connection about the Barbosan Pirates?” Kiera said.

“That is a distinct possibility, There is definitely some link between the realm and the Barbosan pirates. We’ve never been able to get any information about that connection though. Well, we can guess all we want, but that won’t probably help us solve it. We should just move on,” I said.

“Yes, indeed, we need to make for the capital. Now that we have taken down the Church’s trap what will we face beyond here? We need to keep our guard up, as whoever was aiding the Church may still have more in store,” Setanna said.

“Agreed. Alright let’s regroup. Kanae, I think you should coordinate with Darby on the ground team. I’ll stay up here with our battleships and flying corps. Given how the Gáe Bulga has activated, you might consider staying in that form. It is quite impressive, and may actually bring people to our side, as well as deter our enemies. Does holding that form cost you mana?” I said.

“That form doesn’t seem to drain my mana. Instead, it seems to feed my mana. But, it’s an uncomfortable mana. The Gáe Bulga is a very dark artifact, and it messes with my state. I really don’t like using it,” Kanae said.

“Alright, won’t force you to use it. We really don’t know a great deal about it. Considering it very likely was the work of some Darkling alchemist, and given its history, it very well might be a cursed object. Keep it close in case you do need it, though. More than once, we were ordered to retrieve it. There must be an important reason for that. But perhaps it has already served that purpose,” I said.

“Alright, I’ll keep it ready, and be mindful to use it, if appropriate,” Kanae said.

With that we began again our advance on the Capital. I was standing at the brow of Dæmona, our flagship. The roads were empty before us. The two rivers and the delta were empty. The fields were bursting with grains and crops. The homes were dimly lit. In the distance there was a glow above the horizon. The great port city of Talshin lay there. Waiting. It is as if all of Eå was holding its breath, waiting for the hammer to fall. No one had burned the crops, or destroyed moorings and piers. No resistance was being offered. No soldiers. They had all retreated to Talshin.

“A very strange strategy,” Setanna sad.

“Indeed. We are being drawn in, like an insect to a spider’s web. We march through the villages and the towns, unmolested, but not greeted either,” I said.

“A scout. This should be interesting,” Kanae said.

Cian, a Water Dragonkin volunteer, landed in the traditional dragon pose, and said,

“My Queen, lord and lady, Talshin is three days for our ground troops. The lands are as if they were in total peace, but they are all shut in their homes.”

“Yes, the same as it is here.”

“The city is manned as if waiting for a siege. Bt the Bay is filled with the Barbosan Fleet. The bells are ringing in the capital, and the Queen’s flag is at half staff. The Barbosan flag and the Church’s flag fly over the walls,” Cian said.

“So, they have revealed their alliance,” I said.

“So it would seem,” Setanna sad.

“The guns of the Barbosan Pirates are trained on the city. I think, they plan to destroy it rather than let it fall into our hands, your Majesty,” Cian said.

“Well that would be very troublesome! We can’t have that! Let’s send four fast ships two to approach from the east and the others from the west and see if we can’t put an end to these pirates. Send them a bunch of fire cannonballs and water vortexes. Kanae, that seems like a job perfect for your talents,” I said.

“I’ll get right on that, my Queen,” Kanae said.

So, Kanae took two our battleships and took off at high speed west, to strike going east. She sent the other two ships east. We then continued to escort our ground troops towards capital on the coast.

“Mega Cumulo!” Kanae cast, and her command ships were cloaked in clouds.

“Alright, everyone, listen up. We’re going to come in high before we begin our approach I’m going cover the sky in clouds. We’re going fly above the overcast sky, and we will space our selves out. When the two lead ships hit the middle of the Pirate fleet the second ships will begin moving through. We’ll drop down just enough to attack. Keep those cannons firing once you start. Water mages, keep casting uzumaki, as I finish my mælstrom spell. Battle stations everyone!” Kanae telecast.

“Aye aye, Lady Kanae!” the crews responded.

Kanae began drawing her mælstrom spell circle on the deck. The hours passed and Kanae and her ships made a wide berth around the capital, and flew at each other towards the pirate fleet. It was late afternoon when the barrelman in the forward crow’s nest called out,

“Pirates Ho!”

“Kumorisora!” Kanae cast, and storm clouds rolled in over the wide sky.

“Too shi donten!” Kanae cast, and all the crew could see through the clouds below.

Fifteen minutes later the leading ships had reached the first pirate ships. A few minutes later and they were in the center.

“Fire! Fire at will!” Kanae commanded, and she went back to finishing her spell circle.

The water mages began casting whirlpools, and fire gun crews started shooting of flaming cannon fire of all sorts. Eight ships were blasted into roaring flames in an instant. The Pirates knew that an attack was coming, but could never have prepared for such an onslaught. The whirlpools had thrown another eight ships into panic as they tried to avoid being sucked in to the whirlpools, but only three were successful. The air ships were moving down the line of ships from both directions and from the middle of the lines too.

The pirates mages were frantically casting to clear away the clouds, but their spells were just cracking under Kanae’s ridiculous power. Kanae was stronger than any Archmage this world had ever known now. A few ships tried to point their canons into the sky to shoot at us, but when the cannon shot started falling back and hitting their own ships they gave up on that. That had actually taken out four of their own ships, and damaged three others. Mages were firing shots at us from the ships, but the Pirates relied mostly on their ships cannons with enchanted cannon fire. This was the worst case scenario for the Pirates. How were they to fight a flying navy?

A team of mages on the Pirate ships combined their power and cast a clearing spell, which finally overpowered Kanae’s spell. Just in time for Kanae to finish her spell. She stood up on the brow of the Merlina. She raised the Gáe Bulga and cast,

“Mælstrom!”

The Gáe Bulga woke up casting a beam of Golden light up into the sky. Lightning flew off spear and high into the sky. A massive spell circle lit up in golden light as lightning danced all around the spell. It grew to terrifying size. Then it flashed and a massive golden beam of light blasted into the waters of the bay. A gaping maw of a mælstrom formed in the middle of the Pirate’s fleet and half the ships were pulled under crushed like a ship of toothpicks. More and more ships were pulled in. It was a truly horrific sight! The remaining ships couldn’t raise white flags fast enough.

“Kuria!” Kanae.

Several more ships were destroyed before the massive maw could settle down. The surviving ships spent an hour fishing out the survivors whose last ships were destroyed. Barely a fourth of the pirate fleet remained once order was restored.

“You will anchor your ships along the easternmost reaches of the bay. You will disembark from your ships, except for a minimal crew. You will be detained until the White Queen gives you leave to depart,” Kanae ordered.

We set up a detention area along the western shore, with a makeshift mana prison. The ships were all enchanted to keep them anchored in place, with artifacts Aoi and Kanae made on the spot. A day later we arrived with the remainder of our fleet and our ground troops. The city gates were open, and a white flag was flying when we arrived. Everyone in the city had seen the attack on the Pirate fleet, and the realm’s spies had already reported on our massive air force and troops. The flying ships and fortresses were terrifying and new weapons of war.

We knew the other nations must all be aware of our new ships and such. I’m sure we were in for quite the diplomatic conversations soon enough. Even Setanna was clearly troubled. Even though we had already shared all our knowledge with Dargon, and they were building their own fleet.

“This will change all of Eå. We will need to form closer ties to some realms. War will never be the same, Little Queen,” Setanna said.

“Then we must endeavor to have no more wars,” I said.

“That is a vain hope, but a worthy pursuit,” Setanna said.

“I know. It breaks my heart, but I know. All I’ve ever wanted was to live in peace. But one need strength to enforce peace. It is a vicious loop,” I said.

“I look forward to seeing what you can produce, White Queen,” Setanna said.

“This is too big for me. I’ve never wanted any of this,” I said.

“It always is. But you are not alone. You have very talented and loyal friends. As well as many who love you, and we are all here for you. You can lean on us, and you do not need to do this alone. I will always be there for you, if you need me,” Setanna said.

“Thank you, uncle. That means a lot to me,” I said.

“Uncle?” Setanna said.

“Soon,” I said, and smiled at him.