The Red Glaive

They made it to the bridge Adelaide had told them about, before it got too crowded. It hadn’t been easy, the streets were crowded. It seemed the entire city had come out to welcome these foreign lords. Most of the better spots, right in the front of the streets had long since been taken. But atop their low bridge they could see everything, for the most part.

Despite arriving early there was already a line of people standing next to the railing. Aeria frowned. Telfer, Niko, Caius and Videl could all see just fine. She was the shortest out of all them so she could only just see. That was until the man in front of her decided to put his son on his shoulders.

“Here.” Caius said, boosting her up to lamp pedestal next to them. From there she could see everything.

They heard the parade before they saw it. The sound of pounding drums sounding in the distance. In the distance a man carried the Beast’s standard for Aestus.

Lord after lord came down the paved street. The Aestus host came dressed in clothing Aeria had never seen before. The women wore pants of fine thin fabric, it flowed around their legs in large wide pieces mimicking the look of a dress. Aeria wouldn’t have noticed they weren’t dresses had a few of the women hadn’t been on foot. And when they did wear dresses, the flowed flat unlike the massive petticoated monstrosities she saw in the everywhere else.

No one cheered as the host of Aestus nobility rode down the street. Some clapped politely but most just talked amongst themselves. The pyromancers, that manipulated fire drew a few cheers. They couldn’t create it, Aeria noted a man carrying a heavy torch, like Caius could. The pyromancers drew their fire from that torch, manipulated it, formed shapes in the air with it. They could not wield it with deadly ferocity that Caius could. Still, it was enough to impress.

It wasn’t until a large banner in the distance did the excitement pick up. Even at a distance, Aeria could make out the sigil; a black dragon, wings outstretched soaring through a red night sky. That had to be the Aestus Lord. As they approached the sound of drums grew louder and the sounds of screeching horns pierced through the noise, ahead of the banner a group of men marched in tight formations on horseback along led by a man on a griffin.

“Oh! They must be the Inferno Legion!” Niko said leaning into the railing to get a better look.

“Really?” Aeria exclaimed. She had heard of the Inferno Legion from the tales she had read as a child. They defended the land of Aestus from the horrors of the devils. Those riders rode dragons though. Those dragons were all gone now.

“Who?” Caius asked.

“During the Age of Kings, they were said to ride dragons and fight devils. Essentially, they were to the king of Aestus what the Red Glaive is the King of Somnaire.”

“I thought only a glaive sword could kill a devil?” Telfer said skeptically.

“Their dragon’s fire was said to banish the devils to wherever they go during the day.” Niko said as the men marched on their horses seemingly in step with on another. There were about a hundred marching towards them. At their head, their captain rode his a griffon - the feathers on the head pitch black - with his head held high, shouting out words Aeria couldn’t understand which were then shouted back by his men.

“Dragons. . .” Telfer said uneasy. The sentient dragons were long gone along with the Aestian devil binders and Behemoths of Durus and even before them the Unicorns of Lux Aeterna. Creatures from the Chaos Age that the gods used to wage war against each other. They were gone now. All that was left of the dragons were the feral beasts that lurked in the deep mountains of Aestus and parts of Durus. More pest than noble steed.

“They’re a joke.” Caius said as the captain led his men under their bridge. “From a bygone time.”

“I don’t know.” Niko said watching the small army march on. “They say they’re rather fearsome in battle, and that they ride their horses like no other man should be able to.”

“No one rides a horse better than Ariel here.” Caius said clapping her on the back.

“A horse isn’t equivalent to a dragon.” Aeria said disappointed. “Neither is a griffon for that matter.”

The crowd cheered as a group of scantily clad women, seemingly unfazed by what they wore, danced through the street tossing flower petals as they went. Their flowy pants were sheer and beads dangled from their bra tops exposing both their bellies and cleavage. They danced on with smiles on their faces, taunting the men at the fronts of the crowd.

Aeria groaned when both Caius and Telfer cheered them on as they passed.

Among them a lone woman came riding down, atop a black horse. Her face was veiled except for her eyes. “That has to be the Enchantress of Aestus.” She heard Niko say. They all looked at him waiting. “Not much of her is known outside of the Aestus court. I’ve never heard of them bringing her. She’s said to be an advisor of some sort? They say she can see into the future.”

“I heard she’s a devil witch.” Telfer said. Just as he said that she looked up at them. The distance was too far for her to have heard him, yet Telfer yelped and ducked behind the railing.

Aeria laughed then met the woman’s turquoise gaze, felt the pendant around her neck grow blazingly hot around her neck then hopped off her perch and joined Telfer behind the railing.

“You too?” Telfer said his face slightly pale. Aeria nodded and waited a bit before peaking over the edge of the railing to make sure she was gone.

Aeria froze at what she saw.

Valor.

No, it couldn’t be Valor. This man was too old to be Valor. Still her heart pounded in her chest. It wasn’t him. Yet he looked so similar. . . Same hair, similar face and stature. No. His hair was darker that Valor’s chestnut hair, closer to black than brown and the eyes were different. As he neared their bridge Aeria could see it; his eyes were green not Valor’s shade of perfect blue.

“The Sarkains of Ignitia,” Niko said seemingly answering Aeria’s question before she even thought of it. They stared at him blankly. “Ariel, you’re of Durus, Aestus was your neighbor how could you not know?”

“There were more important things to worry about other than some other territory’s nobility like what to eat or how to survive the Frost.” Aeria said. Despite Madame Salver’s lessons, the only lord she knew by name was Lord Roch Whittal of Duowell. She her head on the railing inspecting this strangely familiar man.

“That’s Einon and his sister Kioco Sarkain.” Niko said and Aeria only just noticed a timid looking girl riding next to Einon. “They’re Queen Amalthea's niece and nephew.”

“The Queen. . . .” Aeria said slowly. The queen was dead, that much she knew. She never expected her to have a family outside of the royal family though. It was an absurd thought. Everyone had family before they married.

“There’s a lot of dispute regarding their claim to their seat.” Niko said. “But the crown backs them so they remain in power.”

“Why would anyone dispute them?” Caius asked.

“Aestus had its own king up until a few decades ago. After the Last War the king of Aestus was killed then King Veritas married his aunt to the Aestian prince then claimed the Aestian princess for himself to install his own family to rule in Aestus. That was a long time ago, but many of the Aestus people resent this ruling family calling them the king’s puppets, it doesn’t help that they firmly support many of the king policies in Aestus.”

“Including the one the that allows their people be made slaves.” Aeria said finishing for him. Her father made sure all his daughters knew. That most slaves came from Aestus with Durus being the only place that allowed the sale and purchase of them as part of their restitution for the war that deposed their king and all the bloody rebellions that came after. Being their only neighbors, Durus suffered the most and now Aestus paid for it in the sale of its people.

Einon and his sister passed under their bridge. His resemblance to Valor left her shaken, but she pushed the feeling aside. Their parents came next, along with more dancing girls that dropped flower petals as they went. Niko named the pair as Lord Gebari Sarkain, a hard looking man with fiery red hair and his children’s vibrant green eyes, and his wife Lady Aemila Donumdei, the king’s aunt.

Aeria frowned as the crowd cheered as servants, slaves more like, showered the crowd in bronze coins.

“Cheer up Ariel,” Caius said, “I’m sure some of those coins will land up here.” Aeria glared at him, but he only grinned.

“Not that he’ll need it with such a wealthy sister like Adelaide.” Telfer said.

“You should ask her for something she’ll probably get it for you.” Videl said, then added, “Then decide what you wanted wasn’t what she would buy for herself and get you the finest version of what you needed instead. No matter how gaudy it seems.” he said shiny in his emerald armor.

The Lord passed under their bridge and a few coins, did in fact, land on their bridge.

After they had passed, there was a small gap in the line of people about ten minutes long, until it began anew, with a massive banner depicting the crest of Durus leading lesser lords; counts, barons, city lords, and dukes. Niko had identified as many as possible, making a game of naming as many nobles as he could. Madame Salver would be proud.

Early in the line, Aeria was glad to see Aget riding along side her Baron speaking with him softly making him laugh. Aeria smiled, they looked happy together. Aeria didn’t say anything as they passed under their bridge, surely she’d see her at Adelaide’s later.

Last came Lord Roch Whittal and his family, his horse sigil flying high. That one Aeria knew, though she had never seen the Lord Whittal himself. His slaves handed out small baskets to the crowd.

Lord Whittal was a portly man with a belly barely held in place by his coat buttons. He rode a massive destrier to try and make himself look smaller. Beside him a woman, slender with blond hair and less than half his age, rode beside him. His wife? She wore colors matching the lord, but beside her was a dark-haired girl of similar age, perhaps slightly younger riding in similar finery.

“Lord Roch Whittal, his daughter Serafina and his second wife,” Niko said, then after a short pause added, “His third maybe.”

“Which one is his wife and which is his daughter?” Telfer said eyeing the two similarly aged women marching alongside the lord. They all watched bewildered trying to figure out who was who until:

“Serafina!” Caius bellowed, loud enough to be heard over the crowd. The dark haired girl looked up and smiled when she spotted Caius waving then waved back. They all looked at him, Caius only shrugged and said, “easy.”

The Lord’s sons followed just behind their father, three of them, one young child with two much older brothers, Niko named them as Reading, Sidwell and Owe. The oldest of them, having heard Caius’ call, raised up his sword and pointed it at Caius as he passed. A threat that seemed to say, I’d like to see you try anything with my sister, anyone would cower at such a blatant threat from a Lord’s son but Caius only smiled back unshaken. Probably making things worse.

Aeria frowned. If taken as a slight, it’s not like this lordling would have any trouble locating Caius, they were all wearing their Adept’s uniform except for Videl who wore armor in Duke Lonroth’s colors. After all the trouble to get free him from the sages it looked like another stint behind bars was incoming.

Another large gap before banners depicting the Leviathan of Flumina and the line started again. These lords liked to hand out rare fruits to the people in the crowd. Some of the ones Aeria saw were worth their weight in coin.

Niko named a few the lords coming down the line before admitting, “I’m not too familiar with the Flumina nobility.” after five or six unnamed lords passed under their low bridge.

There was a sharp cry before a squad of griffons came down the street. A few took to the skies, circled about, before landing again.

“The Stouts of Dimrest.” Everyone turned to look at Niko but it was Caius that had spoken. “I spent a weekend in their shit city once.” He said with a shrug, looking down at the people passing his face was solemn. His gaze fixed on the woman riding behind the city lord beside another lord riding a griffon. She only noticed his gaze just as she went under their bridge, but when she did she gasped and stared back at Caius until the bridge broke their line of sight.

“You know her?” Aeria asked.

Caius shook his head. “No, not at all.” He said. Then with a smile added, “They just can’t seem too look away!” He joked earning a laugh from Telfer.

“Idiot.” Aeria said shaking her head.

The Lord of Flumina came shortly after. Their banners waved in blue as Niko named Lord Bero Armthal as he walked his horse. He laughed at something one of his guards had said. Armthal, Aeria recognized the name. It was the name of the ladyAdelaide had sold her potion to. Glancing down she saw the woman she had seen at Adeladide’s, Lord Armthal’s niece Nalia, in the spot usually reserved for immediate family. Only this time her hair had been dyed black.

Adelaide didn’t seem to like her.

There was another break as the Armthals walked under their bridge and Niko grew restless. “Mollia has to be next.” He said, “You think the Storm Lord will bring his thunder bird?” his voice hardly hiding his enthusiasm.

On their way down to the capital, it seemed so long ago now, they had picked up Niko in Durmenda trying to catch a glimpse of the Storm Lord’s thunder bird. He had no such luck.

“You and that bird. . . “ Aeria muttered.

“How could you not want to see one! Their wing span is said to be as long as ship! That a single wing flap is enough to send bolts of lightning crashing into the ground! Of the Titans the gods created from the Chaos Age only the thunder birds are left!” He said, though it was said that the thunder birds weren’t as mighty as they used to be.

Niko continued on about the birds, saying how much magic they contained, how the Storm Lords bred them carefully, how they couldn’t be as diminished as everyone said. That the Storm Knights were they only champions left alive that still held some of the old magic. They didn’t stop him, listening to him was better than waiting in silence.

A cold wind rushed through the crowd. Aeria hadn’t noticed the clouds moving in. In the distance she heard drums. Primal drums beating like a bizarre pulse. The Mollian banner appeared representing the Avian.

The lords of Mollia came. Unlike the other territories, whose lords wore whatever finery the thought would best represent their personality, the lords of Mollia all wore similar uniforms; grey coats with silver accents. The shoulder boards denoted their rank. Among them, their knights were all suited in their armor and as they came, they all marched in step with the drums.

The crowd cheered the loudest as they marched on. Mollia, the defender of Somnaire. It’s people ready for battle at any moment. The King didn’t have a standing army, but Mollia was the loyalist of the territories and the message here was clear; no one could ever threaten the crown without crossing Mollia.

“I see them! The storm knights!” Niko said pointing all the way down the street. Aeria had to strain her eye but she see the Lord’s sigil, a grey eagle on a white field. Behind them a line of knights marched atop dapple grey horses. They gleaming armor was a dark silver and they rode with their helmets removed. All of them with identical pale blond hair. A unique shade, a familiar shade. . .

“That’s the Smiling Storm, Novak Talbain!” Niko said pointing at the far left knight who was indeed smiling. Then next to him his brother, a twin. “Arnoul Talbain, The Silent Storm!” Niko said. “And their father the Volund Talbain, the Grievous Storm!” Niko was practically screaming, so they could hear him over the crowd. “They all came! That could only mean. . .”

In the place the Lord of Durmenda was supposed to be riding a woman with sharp features rode. Niko’s face fell. “That has to be the Storm Lord’s daughter Elia Talbain.” He said down cast.

Aeria was about to console him when a piercing cry, louder than the drums or any griffon, shook the skies. The crowd silenced, only the drums continued. The air was strange, Aeria could nearly taste the static building up around them. Like the seconds before a massive, violent storm.

There was a shadow moving in the clouds, looming closer and closer at an impossible rate before it burst from the cloud cover with another earth shaking cry. A massive crested eagle covered in grey and white feathers flew above them, it flapped it’s wings once and a massive crash of thunder sounded. It’s wings much, much longer than the street was wide. It gilded above them just barely high enough to clear the buildings and Aeria could see it’s wings bristling with lightning.

As quick as it appeared, it soared past them vanishing in an instant. They all looked at Niko, the look on his face was magical. Like the look of a child witnessing something beyond his comprehension.

The crowd burst into a roar of cheers, drowning out Niko’s own shouts.

The gap between didn’t feel so long this time, as most of the crowd continued speaking excitedly at what they had just witnessed. Even Niko was difficult to silence. Eventually they just let him bask in it. “Did you see him? The Storm Lord?” Niko as saying just as the Glacies procession began. Aeria could say that she had, though it was hard to notice anything other than the massive bird above them. “He was riding the thunder bird! I don’t even care to stay for the rest of this.” Niko said pointing down at the Glacies lords continuing beneath them. Most of their clothes consisted of furs.

“Niko, you’re from Glacies.” Aeria reminded him.

“But none of those lords have a thunder bird!”

“What does Glacies have?” Videl said. Aestus had had their Inferno Legion, and their enchantress. Durus had come with an obscene amount of coin and Flumina had shown off a small portion of its fleet of griffons. Mollia had come and outdone them all, no matter how lively Aestus’ show had been. Glacies coming after Mollia just seemed unfair.

“Glacies has an Intoner. First one in a few generations.” Niko said looking down at the passing lords disappointed. “Not nearly as interesting as a thunder bird though.”

“An intoner?” Videl asked the same question Aeria had.

“Their songs amplify magic.” Niko said. “And I guess they have the Kyoryokuna Lion,”

“What’s the kior. . . your. . . kiokyo- you Glacians can’t have simple names can you?” Caius said.

“Don’t try so hard Caius, you might faint from overworking your brain.” Telfer said earning a scowl from Caius.

Niko laughed. “The longer the better. Amongst my brothers I had the shortest name. You should’ve heard my mother calling us each in for dinner.”

“I bet the Cosmogony might be shorter.” Aeria said from her perch.

“So, just a lion?” Videl asked.

“Oh, it’s a big lion.” Niko continued. “it guards the Intoner who is said to have birthed it out of her songs, or least that’s what we’re taught. But that’s not nearly as impressive as a thunder bird.”

Not impressive? Aeria saw the lion before anything else. She had heard of lions before, white lions in Glacies and tan ones in Aestus, but not any nearly this big nor any with a black coat. Bigger than a horse, the lion’s coat was a glossy black. It moved silently through the crowd who quieted when it walked past as if not wanting to risk provoking the creature. It stared at the crowd, it’s icy blue eyes falling on everyone from his black face. Only the eyes stood out in that mass of blackness.

With a chill, Aeria realized why she couldn’t look away. It reminded her of the devils that had chased her on her flight to escape her marriage. Black masses shaped like dogs, with only the glowing red eyes the only feature distinguishable. But this wasn’t a devil, its sun above them was proof enough of that. That, and the woman riding beside it, hand gently nestled within it’s black mane.

“Who is that?” Caius asked looking at the woman who seemed to steal away everyone’s glances despite the black creature stalking beside her.

“Kireina Oimni, Intoner of Glacies.” Niko said almost bored, energy spent on Mollia.

Aeria realized just how unfair life could be just by looking at her. Her golden hair seemed to glow when the sun hit it, brilliant like liquid gold cascading down her her back, and woven up into her elaborate head dress. A lot of it. Without the head dress it had to go down to her knees without a doubt.

She rode her horse gracefully, each and every one of her movements were as they were part of an elegant dance to which only she heard the music too. She smiled, stunning, genuine, at everyone that called her name. As she got closer, her eyes stood out vividly, one green, one blue. Aeria had never seen someone with eyes like hers. It made her own red eyes seem ordinary by comparison. Where Aeria’s were devilishly terrifying, hers only made her all that more beautiful.

“That’s Elric Talbain! The Vicious Storm!” Aeria heard Niko say, but Aeria couldn’t look away from Kireina Oimni.

How was it possible for someone to be that beautiful. Surely, it had to be a glamour of some sort. But no, there was no justifying it. She was that person. That person Aeria had pictured in her head when she imaged the princess of all her childhood stories. Guarded by the strange, terrible, black creature walking beside her.

“Then that has to be the prince riding beside him.” Niko finished.

The prince?

“Looks like an anyone to me.” Caius said.

Had Einon Sarkain come back around? What was Valor’s friend doing riding next to someone like Kireina Oimni and Einon. . . . It couldn’t be. . .

Valor?

“That’s him, Valerian Donumdei, crown prince of Lux Aeterna, heir to Light Bringer’s divine gift.”

All the warmth left Aeria’s body. It couldn’t be. Valor was kind and warm, the man that rode down below looked stern and cold. The were like two different people. No. There was only one. The prince. . .

They passed under their bridge. It had to be someone else. She must’ve imagined it, still her body felt numb.

She had noticed him too late and had missed his eyes. Had they been blue? They couldn’t have been.

She turned and hopped off her post. Pushing through the crowd of people behind her, Aeria made her way to the front of the other side of the bridge where the prince was emerging underneath with his friend; Elric Talbain. Storm Knight. . .

“Valor. . .” She had wanted to scream it out as Caius had bellowed Serafina’s name, but it came out as nothing short of a whimper as the realization slowly hit her.

He still stopped, as if he had heard her. He scanned the crowd, his friend stopping with him looking at him questioningly. Then he started to turn, and Aeria ducked behind the side of the railing, wrapping her arms around herself as if doing so could return the feeling, she didn’t need to see his eyes to know that they would be that perfect shade of blue. Valor. . . Valerian?

“Aeria?” She heard Caius call looking for her. She didn’t want to face him, face anyone.

She pushed past the people around her, the crowd masking her moving through them.

Aeria cleared the crowds, then she just ran.