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Standing on a mountain height overlooking the south– west peninsula of the Greater Realms, Karafae surveyed the view with immense satisfaction. Down on his immediate left, he saw the city of Kalishar and far in the distance on the right, he made out the great city of Ensari. Between the two were the many rich green fields of Ilara, ending in a spectacular flat diamond that divided two seas and stretched almost all the way to the northernmost tip of the Southern Lands. He didn’t know what had made the forceful Savenya settle for the lands of the Eirahir in the north – maybe she just liked that pretentious looking fortress she had found on Wyvern’s Peak – but he didn’t care. The peninsula before him was everything he wanted. And this high mountain slope that looked out over it was the perfect location for his new abode.
He turned to the Angdar captain behind him. “Yes,” he told him with a smile. “This will do nicely.”
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If he had looked harder under that clear blue sky, Karafae may have seen a tiny ship sailing west from Ensari, out onto the Sea of Illimar. For the people on board though, it was fortunate that he hadn’t.
Shaala stood on the deck by the helm, watching the horizon. The waves seemed larger to her than those of the Edessan Sea, which was sheltered between the Greater Realms and the Southern Lands.
“It looks a little rough, Adeiris,” she said to the helmsman. Adeiris was the captain of the ship’s small crew and, along with his younger sister Ariadne, he was also the owner of the vessel.
“This is good,” Adeiris replied. “If the conditions stay like this, we should have an easy voyage. Of course, no one’s ever crossed this sea before...” He shrugged.
It was, Shaala realized, a daunting undertaking this small crew was embarking on. No one from the Greater Realms had ever seen I’estre and while it was a large island, eight or nine hundred miles long and maybe four or five hundred miles wide for much of that length, there was still a lot of sea for it to get lost in.
Shaala knew from everything she and Karn had read in the libraries of Ensari that if they kept due west, they should reach it but that wasn’t the same as having a sure course that numerous ships had sailed before. Then there were winds and currents to consider and a lot of other nautical matters that she had no comprehension of. But if they could help the Greater Realms, then it was worth the risk.
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Karafae looked at the progress, impressed despite himself. The work that had been done over the past five days was nothing short of astounding. Heavy timber logs had been hauled to the location he had specified and on that same day, the Angdar had driven support pillars into the ground, cut up planks for the flooring and put in the framework.
Having a large workforce helped immensely of course, but even taking this into consideration, the Angdar worked fast. And while there was a very basic feel to their workmanship, they built things to last. Even the tents they used in their encampments were tough. You could drop rocks on Angdar tents and the roofs wouldn’t even sag.
His dwelling was now fairly comfortable. The flooring for most of the rooms had been put in place, as had the main walls, and the roof had been finished a couple of days earlier. All in all, things were going well.
Following Savenya’s example however, he wanted to have an adjoining structure in which to keep a prisoner or two. He wasn’t sure why she insisted on the additional leverage of imprisoning the leaders of each land – he felt they had enough leverage as it was – but she and Elenskaer were doing it and so he would follow their lead.
However, he wasn’t going to follow it much farther. Their agreement had been that they would divide the Greater Realms between them, and then they’d be free to do whatever they wanted. And although Karafae didn’t know what he wanted yet, he knew he didn’t want to follow at Savenya’s heels.
He turned away from the construction work, then looked at the rocky precipice above him and the forest that lay to either side, stretching down like green velvet. He shook his head. Velvet. Savenya was in love with the stuff, and Elenskaer wasn’t much better. As he thought this, he wondered not for the first time if the Greater Realms would turn them all soft and, if it did, whether it mattered.
In Drach’nsvoiya, the soft were ripped to pieces. And the reason Savenya had been able to subdue the Eirahir as easily as she had was because they’d grown soft too. If he and the others fell into the same trap, he wondered if someone else would then crush them. It was something he would have to be wary of, he knew, as there were many directions from which such an attack could come. The Angdar could grow rebellious, one of his own dragons could try to wrest his authority away, or the people of the Greater Realms could be pushed too far.
As he considered these things, his thoughts turned to the Angdar he’d sent north to see where the best paths down from the mountains were. He was still unsure of the best place for the Angdar villages. He couldn’t plant them down right by the walls of Kalishar. That would be tempting trouble. He didn’t distrust the Angdar to the point Elenskaer did, but they were a warring race and he only needed one hothead to cause trouble.
He frowned. The scouting parties he’d sent out were supposed to have reported back to him and they hadn’t. He wondered for a moment if they’d taken advantage of the endless hiding places the large mountain range afforded them and deserted.
He called out to the two other dragons there. “Nera. Araestae. I’m going to see where the scouts have got to. Keep an eye on things here.”
He began to remove his clothing, planning on leaping down the mountainside and changing into his dragon form then and there. However, right then, the people of Kalishar had no idea he was there and he could only surprise them by soaring down from the mountains once. With a slight smile, he turned around and made his way towards the forest and the northern face of the mountain. He would save that surprise for the day he took the city for his own. Then he could savor it.
After walking for half an hour to find a suitable place from which to launch from, he glided low over the mountains. It didn’t take long for him to cover great distances, nor did it require much effort, but searching for things was different. It was time–consuming. He had to fly quite close to the mountains and look about in all directions. The Angdar couldn’t have gone too far, he knew, even if they had decided to run off somewhere. However, there were deep valleys, there was foliage, there were overhangs and as big as they were, the Angdar were minuscule when compared to the mountains. However, after soaring back and forth for a few hours, he found them and glided in to land.
“What’s this?” he asked the small group who were sitting around on rocks, attending to their wounds. There were about five or six of them. The rest of their companions, a number closer to twenty lay dead in the dust below them. For a moment, he recalled hearing that the Angdar used to fight among themselves while they served Strahd if their masters weren’t there to supervise them. He wondered if that had happened here.
“We were attacked,” one of the survivors groaned, clutching at his side. Now that he had a better look at them, Karafae saw that they were all in bad shape.
“By who?”
In reply, the Angdar nodded to some of the dead and when Karafae turned around to see what he meant, he realized that not all the fallen were Angdar after all. Most were, but there were four creatures that weren’t. They were large and broad like the Angdar, with horns that came down from their foreheads, but they were graceful in their appearance, handsome even, and there was no mistaking what they were.
He had heard Elenskaer’s news about the Ulak on the plains in the east, and he had wondered how they could have lived so close to Cirreone without Marshal Artaeis knowing about them. Now he knew. They hadn’t lived there. They had lived here in the mountains during the war and only afterwards, they had headed east.
However, it was also clear that some had remained and this was not a revelation he was particularly pleased about.
Standing up, he turned to the wounded Angdar. “When did this happen?”
“Last night,” one replied.
“Then why haven’t you returned?”
The Angdar didn’t reply.
“I’m still waiting,” Karafae told him..
The Angdar hesitated. “We were waiting for help. We can’t travel. Six of our companions went for aid. We thought maybe you were bringing that aid now.”
They thought he was going to carry them, Karafae realized in disgust. It was all right though. He would send Nera and Araestae to do it.
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About a week later, Savenya looked out from her room in her fortress at Wyvern’s Peak and saw an emerald dragon flying in from the south.
Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, she pushed herself up and went to the wardrobe. Then she selected one of her cherished velvet dresses, which she had quite a large selection of now. She put it on, brushed her hair back and left the room.
She climbed the stairs until she reached the ramparts above, the highest section of the fortress and a place she adored. It was here the emerald dragon alighted, transforming into a woman as she reached it. It was an impressive landing, given how tight the space was.
“Nera,” Savenya greeted her. “This is a surprise. What brings you away from the mountains? I rather thought our business with each other was concluded.”
“I thought it was too,” Nera replied, scowling at the remark. “Though if Elenskaer sees fit to share her news with the rest of us, why shouldn’t I? Especially when it concerns us all.”
“Does it now?”
“Karafae’s been injured.”
Savenya snorted. “Stupid of him. So are you here to tell me your lord and master can’t take care of himself?”
“He’s not my lord and master,” Nera said. Then she reeled from a slap across the cheek.
“Mind your tongue, girl,” Savenya told her. “Along with myself, it was Elenskaer and Karafae who orchestrated this. If it weren’t for us, you’d still be starving and fighting for scraps on Drach’nsvoiya. And let me tell you, you wouldn’t survive your fortieth year there. Do you remember when we found you?”
Nera hung her head, stung far more by the rebuke than the physical blow.
“Do you?” Savenya asked again.
Tears came to Nera’s eyes as the memories flooded back, but Savenya didn’t relent. “Scrabbling around in a hole chewing on the carcass of a black dragon you hadn’t even killed yourself. Just how long do you think you would have lasted if we hadn’t found you?”
“I’m sorry, Savenya,” Nera stammered, sniffing.
“We survived centuries,” Savenya told her. “And that was while Dominicon was actively hunting down anyone who made it past a hundred.”
Nera let out a little sob and Savenya eased off. The girl had learned her lesson. However, it was important to keep the younger dragons they had brought with them in line because if they didn’t, then it would only be a matter of time before they started challenging them for leadership. And that was one aspect of Drach’nsvoiya life she’d been very happy to leave behind.
She waited a moment and then stroked Nera’s hair, running her hands down her cheek. “Now come, Nera. What is it you wish to tell me? What’s happened to Karafae?”
“Some of his Angdar were killed by Ulak.”
“Ulak in the mountains?”
“Karafae thinks that all the Ulak must have lived there during the war,” Nera explained. She still appeared chagrined.
Savenya nodded. “Yes. That makes sense. And it would explain how they were able to go unnoticed for so long. So after the war, most of them headed east to the plains north of Cirreone, while some remained in their mountain homes.”
“Yes.”
“Go on,” Savenya prompted her. “What happened then?”
“Well, Karafae went looking for them,” Nera replied. “And Araestae and I were with him too. We found what looked like the remains of Ulak settlements farther north in the more barren areas of the range and there was a small community of Ulak living there. We attacked them and some of them fired burning arrows at Karafae and well, that’s how it happened.”
“And did you wipe out the rest of these villagers?”
“We tried to,” Nera said, with an insistence in her tone that suggested she was afraid she’d get another rebuke. “But they disappeared into some caves.”
Savenya nodded. “I see. So when did all this happen?”
“Five days ago,” Nera told her, now with a hint of relief in her tone. “Karafae’s not too badly injured, but he’s been spending a lot of time in his room, going into trances to heal himself. Oh, he also sent some Angdar into the caves to hunt the Ulak down and they never returned.”
Savenya shrugged in response. “I can’t say I’m too upset about that. Now, what about everything else? Ilara and that worthless desert they call Maharei. Have you taken them yet? We haven’t heard anything about it.”
Nera hesitated. “Um... this business with the Ulak...”
Savenya scowled. “Independence be damned. If Karafae doesn’t bring those two countries in line, it could ruin everything. One of those two cities down there – Ensari or Kalishar, I’m not which – may well be sheltering the last mages of the Greater Realms.”
“I thought you said they weren’t important any more,” Nera said.
“They’re probably not important,” Savenya told her. “But I’d feel better if they were gone. And if we take away their last refuge, there’ll be nowhere else for them to hide.”
“Why couldn’t they just stay in Ensari or Kalishar?” Nera asked. “Have you seen how big those cities are?”
“Because you’ll make the residents of those cities terrified by the idea of what will happen to them if we find out they’re harboring these mages,” Savenya explained. “It’s all illusion, my sweet Nera. Create the illusion and let their fear do the rest.”
“It really works?” Nera asked her, with more than a hint of doubt in her voice.
“Of course,” Savenya replied, surprised by the question. “It’s working here, isn’t it? And last I heard, Elenskaer wasn’t having any problems.”
Nera sighed. “No. But I guess I just don’t understand why.”
Savenya smiled. “It works, my dear, because people are stupid.”
“So,” Nera asked, “what shall I tell Karafae then?”
“Don’t tell him anything,” Savenya told her. “I’ll come south with you.” She thought for a moment. “And I’ll bring Ilvenghaast. Perhaps if there’s another dragon in the skies for a little while, those Ulak will come to their senses and retreat as far down into their little caves as they can and stay there.”