Alliances

Alleania is surprised to receive an offer of assistance from an old adversary.

7.

Alliances

 

Devin the Black covered his mouth with the folds of his robes as he rushed through the city.   The dreaded sounds of destruction came from ahead, where the Goblinoid army continued to hammer at the sturdy gates of Hor’olorbb.   The wizard knew the gates wouldn’t hold much longer.   

Racing through the empty streets, he paused once to cough violently.   The air was blackening by the moment and he wondered how the army outside the gates could even breathe in such an environment.

Gasping and wheezing, he staggered forward until the rather plain, tall grey walls of the Ar’Rilla estate appeared out of the smoky haze.   He could seem to remember some past conflict with Ar’Rilla, but his mind was clouded and jumbled, so he didn’t dwell on these thoughts.  

He glanced up at the sentry posts that flanked the gate, but no one was there.   Perhaps they had all fled.    This thought terrified him, for he knew that success depended upon finding Matron Alleania Ar’Rilla.

Devin tried pushing on the gates, not expecting any success, but to his relief, the gates swung open slightly and he rushed inside the compound.

There were none inside except for the body of a guard who had apparently been overcome by the noxious fumes filling the air.   He stopped and verified that the guard was dead, and his concern puzzled him slightly, for as best as he could remember, he was far from a compassionate man.   

Something had changed - something was different in his brain.   Perhaps it was the effects of starvation of air, or the reaction of some spell he had cast that had malfunctioned.   His thoughts were not clear, his memories seemed clouded and all mixed up.   

Yet with crystal clarity he knew he had to find the Ar’Rilla Matron and assist her.   Though it felt like there should be some memory of an encounter with this house and its leader.   He just couldn’t sort it out behind all the clutter in his head.

He reached the main entrance of the humble noble estate and suspected that this -at least- was surely guarded.   Normally there would have been wards and glyphs of protection, but with the loss of magic due to the Gem of the Oscinate, it now served just as a common door.

To his amazement, he found this portal unguarded and he was able to open the door and hurry inside.    The air was only slightly fresher here, but he heard the sounds of coughing and mumbled speech coming up from a stairwell across the entrance hall.    Devin hurried toward it, wondering what he would say when he encountered members of the noble house.

 

The voices came from a room at the bottom of the stairs and he made it most of the way down before someone glanced up from below and cried out in alarm.

A moment later and he was surrounded by the house guards as well as a Half Drow male and Drow lady that both seemed familiar to him… somehow.

“Devin the Black!”   Alleania sneered as she saw who had infiltrated her home, “How dare you come into my house!”

From her tone, their last meeting had not been pleasant, but he could not remember it.   Instead, only vague feelings surfaced, much like a mostly forgotten dream.    It was almost as if he was two people, both without most of their memories, merged together into one body.   This realization staggered him for a moment and he hesitated to respond to the Drow Matron, which she interpreted as fear.

Her hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat, then lifted him up easily.   From somewhere in his damaged memory, he recalled that Alleania Ar’Rilla was rumored to be a vampire.

“Speak, you miserable worm!    I will give you one chance to explain your presence before I kill you for your crimes against my family.”

She dropped him to his feet and immediately the tips of swords surrounded his neck, giving him room enough just to speak.   He coughed briefly then in a weak voice spoke, “I know how to destroy the Dragon.”

“Really?”   Alleania hissed, “Well, then do tell us!”

“"And let you kill me afterwards?   I think not, Matron Mother.”

“You’re playing a very foolish game, wizard.   The blood of several members of my family is still on your hands and now you come to me.   You have no magic to protect you now.”

“Surely you don’t think I would try something so stupid unless there was no other way!   I am somewhat smarter than that, Matron Alleania.  No-one has any magic right now within the city.    All will soon be lost, and even as we stand here and argue, the gates of the city are being slowly beaten down.    The air is growing very vile and there is little time.   I have a way to destroy the Dragon, but I do not know if I can do it myself.”

“So you come seeking my aid, in your desperation?”   She snorted, pacing around those holding the swords at his throat.

“Yes, Matron Alleania, I do.”

“And how does it benefit you?”

“I wish to survive, just as you do, Matron.    If the whole of the Underdark is destroyed, I will either perish, or be forced to the surface.   I dislike either option.”

“So why do you come to me for aid, rather than the other noble houses?”  

For a moment, the question took him back, for he realized that he had no idea why he was here.   Of course, he could not tell her that right now.    He swallowed and tried a lie, “I came to you because I knew you would not abandon this city without trying to save it.”

“You’re lying.”   She laughed harshly.

All at once, knowledge came to the front of his mind and he blurted out, “I came because only you could carry out the destruction of the Dragon.”

“Me?”

“Yes, and I can show you how and perhaps assist you, but not at the point of the sword.    You know I have no magic, Matron Alleania, I am certainly not able to harm you or your family.”

“You’ve already done enough, worm!”   She yelled in his face, but with a nod at her people, the swords around him were lowered.

“Yes… I am a different man now, Matron.”   He heard himself say, and he realized that this was indeed true, for he could not recall much of his life before… what?   What had happened to him?   He had been trying to summon something.    A demon?   He cringed at the thought, but a bit of memory came to him.   Yes, he had tried to imprison a powerful demon and force him to combat the Dragon.

But then the Gem of the Oscinate had neutralized the spell of protection and… then he awoke with his thoughts jumbled.

“I have regrets for what I did.”   He said, holding his head as it throbbed from the attempt to recall it all, “I tried to summon a demon to combat the Dragon, but when magic was neutralized at the approach of the Goblinoid army, he freed himself and…”

“And?   And what?”   She asked with a frown, impatient and suspicious of his tale.

“I died, Matron.”   He replied, realizing this only as he spoke.    Something in his voice told Alleania that what he claimed was true.  

She stared at him blankly, “Go on.”

“I don’t know what happened, actually.   I suspect the sheer force of his willpower shattered my mind.    But after a time I awoke with my thoughts confused and… other thoughts added.”

“You are possessed?!”   One of the Drow in the room exclaimed.

“I…don’t know.    Yes, maybe that is it.   But it is not a demon… not something evil… I think.”   His head was pounding like a drum now.

The Half-Drow male now came forward and looked at him closely, “When you awoke - did you only then know you were supposed to come here?”

“Yes… It was crystal clear, though nothing else was.    I am not entirely Devin anymore.   Perhaps I am not him at all, but someone else who has access to his thoughts.    It is crazy.    I can’t remember who I was… or who I am.   I only know that I was supposed to come here and find Alleania and tell her that I have the solution.”

“Yet you remember what you did to my family, don’t you?”   The Matron Mother asked with menacing eyes.

“No, only shadows of memories.    I know I was very wicked and craved power.    I know I killed many.    I don’t recall specific incidents, only flashes of faces and their horrible screams.    I’m not denying my guilt, Matron Alleania.    I just don’t remember it clearly.   I will tell you this.   When I awoke with this knowledge, I also realized that I would be expected to die in the attempt to destroy this Dragon.”

“I doubt that, Wizard, knowing how you back stab your friends and anyone who gets in your way.”

“My power is gone, Alleania.    I simply have a plan that requires both of us to implement.   If it works, the Dragon will be killed, though the demon controlling it will be free.     I will die in the attempt, but you, being a Vampire, may survive.   Hopefully your daughter, sister and their spouses will survive, along with your household.”    He blinked in surprise at how he suddenly knew who some of those standing around him were.   He looked at them, and then knew their names.

From his expression, they sensed his sudden recognition and looked at each other nervously.

“Duke Eleazar and Duchess Aurei!”   Devin exclaimed, “That is who you are!    Yes!   You are Paladins of Yesh and surface dwellers.”

He turned to Zeatt and Alvis, “Reverend Mother Zeatt and Sir Alvis!     This knowledge I am receiving - you know that it comes from Yesh.    Devin was not a follower of Yesh.    Yet I am thrilled by the revelation that I believe in him!”

Those around him looked surprised, but still skeptical.   Apparently he had a reputation - or more accurately, Devin the Black had a reputation- for deception.    So they doubted him.   

He couldn’t blame them, for he wasn’t clear who he really was either.

Aurei sighed and asked him, “Alright then; you say you want to help by destroying the Dragon and you’re willing to die to do it.   Very well then, how do you propose we go about doing this?    We have no magic to get near to the creature, even if we were to slip by his army that he pushes forward with fear of Dragon fire.    How do you imagine you are going to kill him?”

Devin smiled slightly, “I intend to let him eat me, Duchess.”

 

Those assembled just stared at him blankly.

“Eat you?”   Eleazar finally asked at last, disbelief in his voice.

“Yes.   You see the Dragon is perfectly armored all around his body.    Without magic, he is nearly impervious to anything we could throw at him.   You certainly know this, Duke Eleazar.    So how do you get past his armor with no magic?    From the inside!”

“You’re insane.”   Alleania commented with a sneer.

“The idea is indeed suicidal, but I assure you that it is quite logical.    The innards of the Dragon are accessed through being swallowed by the beast.”

“That is the dumbest idea I have ever heard!”   Zeatt spoke up, “First of all, even if you were willing to attempt it, there would be no guarantee that the nasty beast wouldn’t just chew you up.   If he did swallow you whole, you’d be destroyed by the acid in his stomach in no time.”

“Yes, but if swallowed whole, while carrying a sword or dagger, I could cut at his throat and belly.   Gut him from the inside.   He has no armor there.”

“The Dragon is huge; I doubt a handheld weapon would even injure it much.”

“It would if you knew the Dragon’s anatomy as I do.    This is not some half-cooked plan.    Dragons are notorious for swallowing people whole.    I have studied the anatomy of the great dragons; I know where to cut in the neck passage to cause him to hemorrhage blood.    He will then probably spit me up instinctively, as he chokes and gags on his own blood.”

“This is a huge gamble, Devin.    His bile will blind you.”   The Drow Vampire commented.

“It is the only way to kill it and save what is left of our world.”

“What is in this heroic act, for you, Devin?”   Alleania asked “I don’t imagine you would risk your neck without profiting from it.”

The Drow man laughed, “My world is nearly gone, all magic is lost until the Dragon and he that possesses him is destroyed.    With the Dragon gone, and the Gem of the Oscinate secured, our people can defeat these invaders.    That is why I am willing to do this - if I don’t, there will be nothing left for any of us.    It will certainly be the end of me, for my power comes only through magic.”

“So you are willing to sacrifice yourself for the cause, though you may die in the attempt?”   The Drow Vampire confirmed.

“Yes, it is the only way.    I have swords that will cut deeply.”

“So why do you need my help?”   Alleania asked.

“I need you to first distract him, then, if possible, steal the Gem of the Oscinate that he wears, while I try to kill him.”   

“By being eaten alive?   Ridiculous!”  Zeatt said again, shaking her head.   

“Have you a better plan?”   He argued back, “I am willing to try, and Matron Alleania’s undead state would keep her from being killed by the teeth or claws of the Dragon.”

“But not his fire.”   Alleania added, “That could destroy me. Even vampires are consumed by flames.”

“There are ways you could minimize your risk, Matron.”   Devin argued, “Go before him as a cloud of mist and rematerialize behind his head.   He won’t breathe his flames at spirits in the air.  Your abilities as one of the undead is unaffected by the Gem’s neutralizing effect, therefore, we should utilize what little ‘magic’ that remains for us to use.”

“Yet it isn’t you that must use it.”   Alleania retorted.  

“I’m willing to sacrifice myself for this city, Matron, and I do not have a coffin to escape to and regenerate.   I do not ask of you something I am not willing to do.”

His words challenged her and the Drow Matron frowned, but nodded, “Very well, Devin - or whoever you are, we shall make this attempt.   For the good of those of our people.   But I swear to you; if you attempt to betray my confidence, I will make sure you will regret it!”

“I shall not betray you or diverge from this cause.”

“Then let us not waste any more time!    I have tunnels that will take us beyond the mob of Goblins and Trolls.   We will be able to confront this demon-possessed Dragon in the passages south of the city.”

Devin nodded, “Leave your family behind here, for them it is too dangerous.”

“Wait just a moment, wizard!” Aurei protested, but Alleania held up her hand with a glance at her daughter.

“Trust me, child, we will be cautious.   I ask that all of you protect this estate from the horde that will soon breech the gates.   If I fail, I will return to a coffin in the room adjoining this one. “

“What if he breathes fire on you, Matron Mother?!”   Orrie cried out, clutching Aurei’s arm tightly in fear.       

The Vampire lady knelt down in front of the little girl, “I will avoid his mouth, my dear child.    Do not fear, I shall be careful.”   

Alleania looked up at Eleazar, Aurei and Zeatt, “If this fails, then we will have to hope that your children and the Sylvan King are quick in finding the spell we need.   Even if the Dragon is killed, the demon will still remain, though he will be incorporeal.    I would suspect that if he is thrown out of the Dragon, he will attempt to force a Troll or Goblin to retrieve the Gem of the Oscinate.”

“We will be ready to act quickly to get it.” Zeatt told her sister.   To Alleania’s surprise, the Bishop of Yesh leaned over and embraced her, “May Yesh guide and protect you.”

“Thank you, dear sister.”   Alleania whispered and then the moment ended.

The Drow Matron took a lingering look at her family and with a gesture for Devin the Black to follow her; she hurried out of the room and down the hallway to the entrance of a secret passage.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...hope that your children and the Sylvan King is quick..." The "is" ought to be "are."